


Scepticism

by Sweetest_Thiam



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Closeted Character, Curious Liam Dunbar, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Good Theo Raeken, IED, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, Kind of Slowburn, M/M, Minor Character Death, Misunderstood Theo Raeken, Self-Discovery, Theo Raeken Loves Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken-centric, no hayden bashing, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-01-22 20:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 50,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18535219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetest_Thiam/pseuds/Sweetest_Thiam
Summary: Everyone told Liam to avoid the kid in the hallway, but that scrutinizing gaze was just too tempting.





	1. Odd Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on my wattpad (sweet_sour_sterek) but I was proud of it so I decided to put it here too. It's an older work compared to some of my others, and also the longest, so forgive me if there are any continuities or errors that I may have missed.

Beacon Hills High School wasn't all that public when you think about it.

The kids there were all on some type of social track, whether it was being a star athlete or an academic prodigy, or even just being plain wealthy, everyone had a place at BHHS.

All except Liam, the new kid with issues and no idea where to go.

As he pushed through the heavy front doors of Beacon Hills High, his new school for as long as they'd let him stay, he gripped the straps of his backpack anxiously and looked around. For someone who'd never changed schools before, this was surreal, especially since this one was so much different than his old one. He focused on what he could see, a trick that his mom had taught him, in order not to get overwhelmed too fast: he looked at the logo of a cyclone on the floor, the emblem of the lacrosse and football team at Beacon Hills, and the clean lockers that almost shone in the bright morning light. People were milling around casually like they weren't in a hurry to get anywhere, and Liam let his eyes pass right over them, not wanting to get any unwanted attention.

Of course, that didn't last long. He didn't have time to look around at his surroundings for too long before a figure appeared in front of him, a slightly taller boy with brown eyes and short hair. "Hey, are you Liam?" He asked, and Liam was broken out of all of the whizzing thoughts going on his head, and he put on a smile and nodded. "I'm Mason, the principal asked me to show you around the school, if you want."

"Yeah-uh, yeah, that'd be great," Liam faltered, jumping over his words too fast and turning red at his mistake. "Sorry. I'm a little jumpy, I've never had to change schools before."

Mason nodded in understanding, and Liam was glad he wasn't judging him too hard already. "Don't worry about it. You'll get used to Beacon Hills soon enough. What school did you used to go to?"

There it was,  _that_  question. Liam debated on whether or not to tell the truth about his old school that had not so subtly made it clear that they wanted the young lacrosse player out or if he should lie and say he was homeschooled. His mom had assured him that it was okay if he wanted to say that, but Liam figured it'd be too much work to keep up that lie, so he didn't. His stupid mouth of course made it so he did neither of those things. "Devenford Prep," He said, internally yelling at himself afterwards.

The whole point of coming to a new school was to avoid being treated differently, like he was some sort of explosive that someone could set off at any time. Sure, his medications were working and his therapy sessions had been going well, but even as his anger subsided it still found a way to bubble up and hurt him later on. He just needed to get through these few months without causing any commotion, (which was easier said than done for Liam, who was naturally curious) and he'd have a nice long break to better himself before senior year. Luckily, Mason either didn't notice how anxious Liam was about the subject, and if he did, he didn't mention it. He seemed like he was generally like that. "I guess it just wasn't for me," He followed up, a weak smile on his face through all of the waves of nervousness pulsing through him.

"I can see that. My cousin went to Devenford, he hated it there. Graduated in 2015, you wouldn't know him," Mason said, "Anyway, back to the tour..."

Mason showed him the library, the lacrosse fields, the science room, and various other classrooms Liam had written down on his schedule before the tour was over, and Liam was thankful that Mason wasn't being as awkwardly quiet as he probably was. Even if he didn't quite know Mason yet, he trusted him and knew a little bit about him already: he had kind of a big family, he doesn't play sports, and he's obviously very friendly. There weren't a lot of people like him back in Devenford; most of them were always hyper-focused on their sports or classes to even bother with being a basic human with good social skills.

After they got past the language arts and history classrooms, Liam and Mason found themselves in one of the brightly-lit hallways in front of some lockers, the sunlight from the windows shining in. Mason ran his fingers along the blue-green metal, stopping at one of the locker doors next to a girl with brown hair who was busy writing on her little paper tablet to notice them there. "And I think this is your locker...Yeah, 234."

The girl turned around and grinned when she heard Mason's familiar voice, the two having been friends since the fourth grade. She looked from him to the shorter Liam. "Hey Mase," she greeted, but she was still looking at Liam. They didn't get a lot of new kids in Beacon Hills, so it was pretty out of the ordinary to have someone she didn't recognize around. "Who's this?"

"This is Liam, he came from Devenford Prep. I guess you guys are locker neighbors," Mason mentioned, trying to undo Liam's lock since they were a little stiff. "Liam, this is Hayden, one of my closest friends. I know a lot about the building and classes, but if you have any social questions I'm sure she'd be happy to answer them," He muttered, tugging at the blue lock. Hayden nodded in agreement and wrote something else on the paper hanging on her locker door: 'Math Test January 9th."

Truth be told, Liam did have a ton of questions, but he was a little scared to ask them. He knew that these kids mostly knew each other from the time they were in elementary school to now in Junior year, so it might come across as weird to have someone trying to learn everything about everyone on his first day. There were so many stories he'd missed out on, and he didn't know how to go about learning them.

He was broken out of his haze of anxiousness when he felt something on the back of his neck. Liam put his hand there and rubbed it, trying to get the odd feeling to go away, but even as he tried to listen to what Hayden was saying about some of the friend groups, he couldn't focus. "There are a few different main groups. For example, our friend Corey is on the lacrosse team and he hangs out with them a lot, but he also hangs out with the little group we formed with him, Mason, and Tracy, who you haven't met yet. It's pretty chill here, except for a few choice others who aren't so relaxing," Hayden explained, still writing things down: "Yearbook Committee Wednesday, Doctor's appointment January 14th, Date Friday." Hayden must do a lot. 

Liam followed along until he couldn't take the strange feeling anymore and began to wonder if there was even anything there. Sometimes he got little hints that something was going on, and he suspected this was one of them. Usually, they were there when someone was talking about him or looking at him. He turned his head to look behind him, barely looking, but out of the corner of his eye he could see someone staring at him.

He didn't feel right about it and looked again to make sure it wasn't his brain trying to psych him out, but sure enough, he was still there, just a few lockers away and across the hall.

The boy had one muscular arm leaning on the locker, a girl below him looking at her phone like there was nothing particularly special about his presence. He was close to her in a way that seemed to indicate that they were together, but she was still typing on her phone like she was bored.

Liam threw his doubts out the window and turned back to Hayden, deciding that if he was going to ask a question, this was the one. "Who's that?" He asked, nodding in the direction of the two people, mostly referring to the boy. Hayden's expression changed from one of happiness to a rather unhappy one, but Liam couldn't quite place the emotion it was conveying.

"Which one?" She asked, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"The guy, what's his deal?"

Hayden sighed. "Remember how I said there were some choice others that weren't all that relaxing? He's one of them. That's Theo Raeken, and he's a player if I've ever seen one, not to mention seriously sketchy."

Now that Theo's gaze was back on the girl, Liam turned to look at him again. "He was staring at me."

Hayden shrugged. "That's what he does. Stands and stares."

"Creepy."

"Yeah, I know. It's not just him, though. That girl Lana is also someone to avoid. Even if Theo sleeps around and all that, they're still inexplicably together. She's always...up to something, keeping secrets."

Liam could hear the hurt in her voice and sensed that something had happened to make her feel this way, but he said nothing and just looked back at the pair who Hayden seemed to be avoidant of. As she spoke, he took in the features of the both of them so he'd remember who they were.

The girl, Lana, had long dark brown hair framing her light brown face, her nails long and painted white as they tapped on her phone screen absentmindedly. A silver chain hung around her neck, wearing rings on most of her fingers and a bracelet on one wrist, all gleaming grey. Her sweater was dark blue and matched her white pants, and she wore heels that made her seem a lot taller than she was. Liam got the impression of a girl who knew what she wanted to do and would do what it took to get it, and according to how Hayden spoke of her, that meant  _anything_. What he was really focused on though, was Theo. There was just something about him that captured his attention, especially the weirdness of the fact that he kept looking at him intensely. Even though they were down the hall, Liam could tell his eyes were a dark green in the sunlight, his lips seemingly in a permanent smirk. He caught himself staring at Theo and looked away, turning back to Hayden with another weird feeling inside, this time in his chest.

"Whatever you do, Liam, don't get tied up in Lana and Theo's web. They're a mess, and I'm never quite sure if you can ever get out of it."

The bell rang and Hayden guided Liam to his first class, leaving him behind to go to her own. Liam took out his notebook and wrote down what had happened today, another thing his mom told him to do to clear his head.

But even as the pen hit paper, Liam had no idea what to do. So he wrote two words down, a question mark following, and closed the notebook.

**Theo Raeken ?**


	2. Sketchy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam and Theo don't exactly make a good first impression on each other and Lana shows some of her old hostility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep in mind that the writer is not particularly good or well-versed on science, so any mistakes with content is my fault :)

The next day, Liam had managed to forget most of what the teachers had told him about what they were learning, but two words stuck with him through a restless sleep: Theo Raeken. That guy made him feel uneasy in the worst way, and Liam wanted to know what was going on in a desperate attempt to shake the tone of ignorance from his head. Liam always had a curious side to him and it had gotten him in trouble a lot on numerous occasions, but he didn't even realize he was doing it now.

Unlike yesterday, Liam didn't spend his lunch with the computer teacher sitting through an unnecessary explanation on how to use Onedrive and sat with Mason, Corey, and Hayden, along with another girl who was absent the day before named Tracy. He'd learned a lot about this group already and had a lot of fun with them since they were in a lot of his classes. So far, he knew that Mason and Corey were for sure dating without them even saying anything, Hayden really hated it when Tracy wasn't there since they were dating, and that Corey was constantly being bothered by the lacrosse team to sit with them.

"Somebody's popular today," Liam commented when one of the guys on the team threw a french fry at Corey and laughed. Corey shrugged, not bothered by the attention since he knew the guys did it jokingly. "Is it always like that?"

Corey shook his head and raised his eyebrows, waiting until he was done chewing to answer. "Actually, no, they've been bothering me about you, now that you mention it. They think I should get you to join the team."

Liam was surprised at the outward invitation, since besides Corey and the occasional glances from the elusive Theo, nobody on the team paid much attention to him. "Really?" He asked, and Corey nodded intently. "I mean, I played in Devenford-" He was about to go on but caught himself before he could start talking about that. The Devenford Bulldogs weren't exactly the best years of his life, and he'd rather not get into it so early. "Are there tryouts anytime soon?"

Corey said yes and took out a schedule, looking at the dates. It was currently January 8th, and since the marking period would end on the 29th, tryouts for the season would be on the 11th, that Friday. Luckily, Liam thought that was plenty of time. "You want to do it?" Corey asked excitedly, and Mason smiled at his boyfriend's happiness.

"Sure, why not? Everyone seems really involved with things here, and I'd like to-" Liam had been looking around at everyone, but he got caught on that one guy again, who was sitting on the lunch table and staring at him instead of talking to his friends. Liam quit talking and the smile on his face gradually faded, being hit with a wave of concern. His eyes dropped to the table and he hoped Theo wasn't still looking at him. Hayden seemed to understand what had happened when she looked behind her and gave a scowl in Theo's direction but a sympathetic frown in Liam's. "I know you told me some stuff about Theo," Liam said quietly to Hayden, but letting the others hear. "But what did you mean?"

They all could tell that Liam wasn't about to give up on asking, so they sighed and started. Hayden spoke first, brushing a piece of her hair off her face and tucking it behind her ear. "Well, Theo just gives me the creeps and there are a ton of rumors floating around about him. As for Lana-"

Hayden was cut off by Tracy rolling her eyes. "As for Lana, Hayden's biased because she's her ex."

So that was why Hayden had so many issues with Lana and Theo. He hadn't forgotten the wounded look in her eyes when he mentioned Lana, so that explained a lot about what was going on. "Also, I heard Theo takes drugs or something."

"I heard that too. And I'm not biased, she's bad!" Hayden protested, and Liam widened his eyes at how loud she was being without meaning to. Luckily when he checked, Theo was busy talking to one of the guys at his table with the team. Tracy gave her a look that was only half-joking, and Liam was about to say something, but Corey interrupted him.

"Yeah, Theo's on the lacrosse team with me, and he's always carrying around a whole lot of cash like he's some kind of dealer," Corey said, pointing a fry in Liam's direction. "I don't know what kind of drugs they had at Devenford, but for that type of cash around here it's gotta be at least crack. Maybe heroin." Mason chuckled, wondering why Corey knew all that. "That being said, he doesn't look drugged-out or even high when we play."

Liam took in the information like it was food, ignoring the neglected actual food on his tray. This was so much more interesting than fries and tomato soup.

"You don't get high on your own supply," Mason joked. "But in all seriousness, nobody knows a lot about Theo. He's not really the type to share much with anyone, so while he's all over the place, we can only assume what goes on under all that, well, smoulder." Hayden choked on her water with laughter at Mason's description, but kept a serious enough face to make it seem like Mason was right, which he was.

While Liam listened to everyone talking, he began to grow more nervous when he realized Theo was looking at him again. There was no trace of emotion on his face, but if Liam had to judge one, it would be something of anger or judgement even though Liam hadn't said a word to him. Maybe he heard them talking about him, since it seems that even though Theo was some sort of intimidating lacrosse figure, he was always being gossiped about.

Liam looked around to see where Lana was, finding her walking over to Theo, still looking like she didn't care one way or another if she were talking to him. "Hey, babe," She said, pasting on a cheery smile. Theo leaned up to kiss her and Liam cringed, for what reason he didn't know, and turned back. He still listened to the conversation, wondering why he was so engrossed in whatever Theo and Lana were doing. If someone was described as "sketchy," Liam's stupid mind was sure to want to investigate.

There was still something about him that irked him, and it wasn't even all the rumors. It was that there was literally nothing, nothing at all that he could read off of him; he was cold and that was all he knew for a fact.

"Well, these are all just rumors, right?" Liam asked nervously, looking at the clock since it was almost time for lunch to be over. "We don't know if they're true?"

Tracy shrugged but nodded. "They're all rumors, sure, but that's kind of the weird part. There's nothing we know about him, that guy's got a ton of secrets."

"That's great, considering I have a science class with him right after this," Liam grumbled. Along with missing lunch to do his arbitrary computer training, he'd also skipped his science class that the group was in.

"Ouch. Godspeed, man. We're in that class, too, don't worry to much about it. Unless something big happens, which it probably won't since he's more of a quietly secretive type, you won't get into trouble," Mason assured him, patting him lightly on the shoulder. He got up as the bell rang, and Liam followed.

That was good. Liam hadn't even been thinking about the prospect of getting into a fight with Theo,but now that he had that thought in his head it was even worse. If he came home with a suspension one more time his parents were going to kill him, figuratively of course, but even the relatively chill Jenna and David could really crack down on their son.

Theo was still shooting him sideways glances as he left the lunchroom, giving Liam that same eerie feeling he got in the hallway yesterday. He tried to convince himself that it was just because he was the new kid, and if he could avoid talking to Theo, he'd lose interest and things would get better.

\--

While Liam, Mason, Tracy, and Corey made their way to Mrs. Alvarez's class, Hayden stopped to grab a folder from her locker that she'd forgotten. She was only trying to grab her stupid folder for a music lesson she had in an hour, but of course she couldn't just get her stuff in peace.

"I saw your new friend earlier." A smooth, familiar voice broke her out of her casual thoughts and filled her with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Theo's been eyeing him up."

"What do you want, Lana?" She sighed, hating the sweet look Lana had on her face. She didn't  _get_  to do that; she didn't  _get_  to talk to her like nothing ever happened, like they were still all good. Lana reeled back and put a hand over her heart like she was shocked that Hayden took a tone with her, despite having expected it.

"Oh, don't be that way!" She sighed, leaning against the locker next to Hayden's and resting on her arm. "You were the one who broke it off with me, remember?" These words only angered Hayden to no end. She slammed her locker shut with a loud  _clang_  and gave her a look that could only be described as venomous.

"Because you're a liar!" They were both lucky they were alone in the hallway now, because everyone would have heard that. "By the end of you and I, I had no idea what the hell was true and what was you covering up for something."

To be completely honest, that statement hurt Lana in a way she'd rather not admit, so she pretended she didn't hear it. "Oh, come on, don't say that. You know you still love me."

Hayden rubbed at her bracelet with discomfort, fidgeting with it in an attempt to keep herself grounded. "Loved," She shot. "Past-tense. I have someone else now, someone who doesn't make me feel like I'm suffocating when I'm with her."

Lana knew it was the wrong thing to do, but she let out a laugh. "Tracy? Are you kidding me? You think she can just replace me, replace what we have?" She asked incredulously, but in her chest her heart was hurting just as much as Hayden's. "Hayden, we're meant to be together. Not you and Tracy, not me and Theo, you and I. Tracy and Theo are the backups."

"Tracy is not a backup," Hayden growled. "Maybe Theo's just another person you'll use and throw out, but Tracy isn't."

"Fine, but you can remember something, remember what we used to have, and what we still have. How we used to watch your favorite show until you fell asleep on my shoulder, how I let you stay in my bed as long as you needed to and enjoyed every second of it. When I was just L and you were Hay. I used to braid your hair the night before school so it would have those waves. You never do that anymore, do you? Do you do all that with her, Hay?"

Hayden's first responses to that nickname were to either slap her or cry, but she willed herself to do neither. "Just GO, Lana."

"Have fun with your replacement," Lana called as she walked off down the hallway. They were about to be late for class, but Hayden couldn't bring herself to move and instead let a single tear fall before wiping it away. She tried to remember when Lana had become this way. Old Lana was sweet and would do all of the things like braid her hair and let her sleep in her bed without any trace of being ingenuine, but something had changed. She started being spacey and would never say what was on her mind like she used to, and that scared Hayden to no end. There was a point when Hayden realized her Lana was gone underneath a layer of whoever had formed on top; Lana Danielson was no longer L. She was a stranger she called her girlfriend.

While Lana's heart was beating with regret and Hayden's with sadness, there was a third heartbeat in the hallway that was starting to calm down as the talking stopped. Theo stood at one corner of the hall so no one could see hi, and stayed silent, thinking one thing to himself.

_"Replacement?"_

\---

Things were most certainly not getting better. Liam got to his science class, biology to specific, and there was a free seat next to Hayden. He was happy about it, but it also turned out that Theo would have a clear view of him from where he sat in the back corner. "Great," Liam whispered, but Hayden was too busy trying to get rid of the memory of what happened in the hallway to say much. Liam longed to get out of school even more now that he was stuck sitting near that creep, and while some part of him wanted to find out what Theo was all about, he was still trying to keep himself quiet. Curiosity killed the cat, after all.

"Good afternoon, Liam," The teacher said, and Liam gave a small smile in response. Yesterday we talked about starting a new project, and I've paired everyone off to start. Sorry if you're still unacquainted with this," She said only somewhat apologetically, and Liam started to dread this assignment. He was really about to be thrown into a project right away? He didn't even know what the project was or even what they were learning!

The teacher paced around the front of her classroom and Liam didn't appreciate how much fun she seemed to have with this. "I've put a lot of thought into some of your partners. Some of you got paired with people you work well with, and others I trusted to be good with their friends."

Hayden and Mason looked at each other excitedly since they usually worked on things together, but it was short-lived. "Not you two," The teacher shot, and their smiles fell. Liam let himself laughing. "Hayden, you'll be working with Josh, Mason with Emma, Emalia and Grace, Tracy with Lana, Theo with Liam, Corey and Sydney..."

Liam almost choked on the water he was trying to drink and Hayden's mouth fell open for two different reasons: Lana would definitely be trying to stir up trouble with Tracy considering what she said in the hall, and Liam was going to have no idea what to expect out of Theo. He gave her a fearful look and she gave him back an apologetic one, wishing she had been able to tell him more, but she'd told him all she knew about Theo Raeken.

"You'll be working on this project until February 20th, your first big grade of the marking period. I suggest choosing your topic and format now so you can start working as soon as possible."

Liam groaned silently and mouthed "help," to Corey, who had turned around to give him a look that was mostly pity mixed with a little bit of amusement. He dragged his feet all the way to Theo's seat in the back since the kids were all starting to move around, pulling the stool out as far away from Theo as he could without being outside of their work area.

"So, I guess we're partners, new kid," Theo said, and Liam almost flinched but caught himself. Theo's voice was a little rough and a little gravelly, not what he was expecting, but that didn't quell his anxiety at all. "I'm Theo."

"I know," Liam said way too fast, and his eyes widened for a second before he realized how stupid he sounded. "I mean, uh, the teacher just said it out loud-" Theo interrupted hm with a wry laugh, one that sounded more like a scoff than a noise of amusement.

"Look, whatever your little friends said about me, I don't give a fuck. People will believe what they want to. Now let's get this stupid project over with so we can be done with it," Theo said shortly, and Liam's nervousness settled into annoyance. So this was how Theo was going to be? He reminded him of one of his classmates in Devenford in a way he didn't like one bit, and it bothered him. Two could play at that game.

"Fine," Liam replied, just as succinct as Theo. "We can work on it after school. My house isn't free, so can we do it at your's?"

Theo's once bored and uninterested expression changed so fast that Liam almost didn't catch the bit of panic that spread before his face settled into one of incredulity. "No!" He protested in a tone that matched his panicked face before calming down and clearing his throat. "No, I, uh, I can't."

Liam rolled his blue eyes. "Are you serious?"

Theo scoffed. "Yeah, I am serious. I can't do it, sorry that I can't bring some random judgemental guy into my house just so we can do a dumb science project."

Oh, he was the judgemental one? "Okay, new plan," Liam grumbled, starting to get mad. "Since you're gonna be that way about it, I'll do my half of the project and you do yours, plain and simple. Sounds good? Good." Liam didn't wait for a response and opened his notebook, smacking it down on the desk. This was definitely his IED flaring up, but at least he wasn't attempting to beat him up or flip the chairs, which was a win.

"What subject?" Theo asked after a second, having been silent.

Liam looked at the paper full of subjects that Mrs. Alvarez handed out for a split second, his eyes landing on the first words he saw. "Nucleic Acids."

"Nucleic Acids?" Theo asked, just to be sure, and Liam clenched his teeth and gave Theo and annoyed look.

"Yes, Nucleic Acids. Now let's make this fucking powerpoint."


	3. Apologetic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo shows that he's not all bad.

Liam was mad, to say the very least. He'd spent half of his free time the night before researching a nucleic acid since he hadn't learned about them since the friggin' eighth grade, and Theo was absolutely no help in class despite  _knowing_  what a nucleic acid was. Nothing big had happened, just as he'd hoped, but there was definitely something to talk about in therapy when it came up next week.

Sure, maybe he didn't expect much out of Theo. He should have been prepared to get treated like crap since that was apparently what Theo was known for doing, but it was still disheartening to come to a new school and immediately be thrown back into what he was used to; all the unwanted attention and ridicule wasn't exactly what he had missed in Devenford.

So now he was sitting on the stairs before classes started, trying to do any last minute bit of research on his phone so he would have a little more to work with when they had to work on it in science. His mind was still vaguely clouded by Theo's harsh words and snotty looks, but he was starting to focus when someone came down and sat next to him. "You okay?" Hayden said, and Liam looked away from her phone and up at her, nodding slightly.

"I'm holding up okay," Liam offered lamely. "You were right about Theo. Even though I want to figure out what the hell his issue is, I also never want to have to talk to him again."

"Yeah. I'm serious, Mrs. Alvarez is trying to kill everyone with these pairings. I mean, Josh is great and all, but he won't stop talking about what I use in my hair. Get your own shampoo, bitch," She muttered the last part to herself and Liam chuckled quietly. "And I can tell Tracy's upset, and I'm sure it's because of Lana. She barely texted me back at all yesterday."

"What happened with you two? You and Lana, I mean?" Liam asked, not stopping to think if that was an acceptable question, but Hayden didn't mind. She shrugged and took a breath, letting it out with a whoosh.

"I honestly wish I knew," Hayden admitted. "Something just went wrong along the way. But I never found out."

"It's the stuff you don't know that kills you," Liam mentioned, and Hayden nodded.

"Whoever said 'what they don't know won't hurt them?' That's some straight bull if we're being clear."

"Yeah, I mean, if I knew what Theo was up to, I wouldn't be so hesitant to work with him and I certainly wouldn't be so friggin' stressed out about finding out. He's not making it easy either, he's apparently some genius in the field of whatever the fuck a ribonucleic acid is and he's holding out on me. So now I'm stuck with this jerk, and I can't do anything about it!" Liam ranted only a little quietly and Hayden listened intently until she noticed someone coming up in front of them. It was the last person she was expecting to see so her eyes widened for a second, and she turned back to Liam. "Shush, he's coming!" She whispered urgently, and Liam shut up.

Sure enough, the tall figure was there walking up to them. His hands were in his pockets and he looked kind of conflicted, which was a new expression that Liam had never seen on him before. He opened his mouth to say something but for a second nothing came out, and it was a second later when Theo finally forced his voice to work. "Hey, Liam," he started, and the younger boy was surprised that Theo remembered his name since he'd only ever called him 'New kid.' "Look, I...I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about my behavior yesterday. I was a little preoccupied with something else and I snapped at you, and I hope you can put it past me."

Liam raised his eyebrows and Hayden smirked. "Wow, Theo Raeken apologizing for hurting someone? This is a sight I never thought I'd get to see," She said under her breath. Theo heard but ignored her, still looking at Liam.

"So, I was thinking maybe we could meet up after school in the library and work on it? I don't think the whole 'half and half' thing is going to work," Theo suggested, and Liam took a second to register that Theo wasn't being a right asshole and was actually attempting to be nice.

"Yeah, no, that sounds great," Liam said, still a little surprised at the change in tone but not at all upset about it. Theo nodded once and walked off, but Liam noticed that it wasn't as confident and suave as it usually was. Once Theo was out of earshot, he turned back to Hayden who looked just as shocked as he was. He raised his eyebrows again and his mouth fell into a small "O" shape, and Hayden laughed after a few seconds of stunned silence. "Wow."

"Did you fucking neuter him or something?" Hayden laughed, looking back to see if he was anywhere in sight. "Theo doesn't apologize!" Liam put his hands up in a confused stance and just got up, now considerably less worried about doing extra research on his topic. He'd be doing plenty at the library now that Theo had decided to invite him.

Liam walked through school that day with a new vibe of calmness, the most he'd felt in a few days. Making his way down to his first class of the day, spanish, he was a whole lot less tied up in his own thoughts and was actually able to think about a class besides science. "Hola, Liam!" Senora Kay greeted cheerfully.

"Hola," Liam offered and took his seat next to Mason. "Hey," He said to Mason, who took out one of his earbuds and turned to him, not even sparing him a hello.

"So? How did things go with your seventh-period psychopath?" Mason asked jokingly. Liam shrugged and wasn't sure how to answer, but laughed at Mason's nickname.

"He said he was sorry for being a bitch this morning. Not in those exact words, but it was something," Liam offered, and Mason looked impressed.

"Wow, really? Theo said he was sorry? I guess pigs are about to start flying," He mumbled and chuckled to himself. "You guys are all friendly now?"

"I mean, no," Liam admitted. Even if Theo had apologized to him, he was still kind of suspicious of this guy. "But I'm gonna give him another chance. He seemed pretty real when he talked to me, so I'm willing to try again."

"Good luck," Mason said without any jokes and opened his spanish binder. They had a quiz that day that Liam was woefully underprepared for, but he was too busy thinking about a certain dark blonde to care.

\---

Once Liam got to his long-awaited science class, he took his spot next to Theo and even offered him a small grin, trying to make an effort to seem nice. If Theo was in the mood to be pleasant, he would too, just like he did the day before when he was being pissy. Theo didn't say anything but didn't make a face at him either, which Liam considered an improvement.

"What do you want to start on first? We didn't really pick a format to do this project in, so we should probably start on that," Theo suggested, moving his papers so they'd be more organized across his desk. Liam noticed how his pencils were arranged from shortest to longest on the surface, the erasers being perfectly lined up and that his pens were all accounted for in a pencil box. They were really nice pens, too. "Mrs. Alvarez generally doesn't like us to change the media in our projects halfway through, so..." He trailed, passing Liam the page where the media options were listed.

"Well, I do remember saying we were going to 'do this fucking PowerPoint,' so I thought we were in agreement already."

Liam wasn't expecting him to, but he was surprised when he saw a little smile grace Theo's lips. It was toothless and otherwise undetectable, but considering Theo barely blinked out of time it was a huge difference. He wasn't entirely sure why, but it made him feel good to see Theo smile and know he made him. "We don't have to do a PowerPoint if you don't want to, I have a feeling you really didn't. It might be easier to write an essay, I'm...decent at that."

"We have to present it, so what if we made a presentation with just the key points and we read the essay?" Liam asked, and Theo nodded in consideration. Liam was thankful for how cooperative Theo was being.

"That sounds good. Did you do any research on the topic? I did a little." Theo pulled out a neatly-written page of written notes, and his handwriting matched how organized he was; little bullet points ran down the lined paper with fact after fact attached to them.

"That's a  _little_?" Liam gaped, eyes bugging out slightly. "I mean, I did some but I didn't know what a nucleic acid was until last night." Liam showed him the sloppy post-it note that paled in comparison to Theo's notes, but Theo didn't mind the messiness or the sparseness and looked it over like it were his own.

"You didn't know what a nucleic acid was?" Theo asked with a little bit of amusement in his voice, and Liam couldn't tell whether or not he was being made fun of.

"I guess not," Liam gave a breathy laugh in response. "The last time I studied cells was in eighth grade, so it took me awhile to remember. That's the stuff in the DNA, right? Just so I'm clear."

"Yes, Liam, it's the stuff in DNA," Theo sighed, somewhat exasperatedly, but Liam could tell this time that he was kidding. Theo wasn't actually so bad when Liam could tell that he wasn't being insulted. "Here, pull up this website, I think it's on this paper," Theo intructed, handing Liam a piece of paper off the carefully made stack. Liam looked at it and found that there were no website names on it, so he looked around for another one before doing anything. On the other side of Theo there was another paper with multiple links written down.

"Wrong paper," Liam muttered before reaching for the one next to Theo, but his hand got caught up with Theo's who was reaching for one of his pencils. Liam didn't pay much attention to it, but Theo's skin prickled with goosebumps as Liam's palm slid softly against the back of his hand. "Sorry," Liam said, not actually aware that what he did had any effect, but Theo was left looking at his hand with curiosity. He tried to rub the goosebumps away and resorted to just pulling his sleeve down over his hand, a little startled by the reaction his body had to Liam touching him.

It wasn't like he had any issues with touch or anything, he played both Lacrosse and Football, two very contact-based sports, but his hand still felt odd. He shook it off, trying to put it out of his mind, but he couldn't.

Since Liam hadn't noticed Theo's confusion, he typed in one of the web page addresses and turned his laptop screen to show Theo. "This the right one?" He asked, and Theo nodded once, not having looked at the screen at all. Whatever it was, they were going with it.

It turned out that it was the right site, so they took notes on it the best they could considering their differing writing skills. While Liam scribbled down a few short sentences he found, he looked over to see that Theo was writing it all down in different ways. Liam admired the way his letters were so well-formed and the different headings, but when he tried to recreate it on his own notes he found that he just made it worse. How Theo didn't smudge all that ink was a mystery to him, but at least it wasn't the biggest mystery about him.

Everything was calm for a good half an hour until something happened outside. The science room was right outside the student parking lot on the second level, so when a car alarm went off, it was hard to miss. Tracy and Hayden looked up to make sure the alarm wasn't theirs, and so did a few others, but Theo's reaction was hard to miss. He'd stopped writing his notes and abruptly stopped, leaving a line of ink on his otherwise perfect notes, his green eyes widening with concern. While the other kids had just looked out of the window, Theo got up off his stool ina rush, his foot getting caught on one of the legs, taking him and the stool down. "Fuck," he hissed, catching himself on his elbow and kicking away from the stool as some laughed, focused on getting to the window to see if his truck was safe. His face burned red when he found that it was and that he'd done all that for nothing, picking up his stool somewhat angrily and sitting back down.

"...Are you okay?" Liam asked, half-concerned and half-confused at whatever that was. For being so calm, that was the exact opposite of what he thought would happen. Theo didn't answer, trying to shake that off and pretend it didn't happen.

"Here, let's compare these."

Theo and Liam worked quietly, but over at Tracy and Lana's desk, things weren't going nearly as smoothly. Lana wasn't even attempting to work while Tracy was straining not to look at Hayden's ex, knowing that if she did she'd be met with an innocent look or a thinly-veiled comment. She didn't even have to before the first one came. "Hayden looks really pretty with her hair straightened," Lana mentioned gingerly, and Tracy bit her tongue. Anyone else and it would have been okay, but she was seriously debating telling Lana to fuck right off.

"I know, right?" She replied, acting like she wasn't affected. "Hayden always looks good."

"Uh-huh!" Lana agreed, and Tracy didn't hide her eyeroll. Bitch.

\---

After school, Theo waited in the library for Liam to get there, figuring he might've gotten lost along the way. It was probably a bad move on his part, leaving Liam at the end of science and not giving him directions to the library, but it was a little late at that point. Liam finally walked through the doors looking just as lost as Theo expected him to, and a tinge of guilt hit him but it was drowned under more amusement. He had to admit, the new kid was kind of funny, just how worked up he got. They were in stark contrast to each other and they both knew it: Theo was secretive and nobody knew anything about him besides the basics, and Liam seemed to be flooding with things to say and wanted everyone to know.

"Hey, sorry, I got lost." Called it. Liam put his bag down on one of the library tables, finding that Theo already set up his stuff. His school laptop was plugged into the outlet by one of the bookcases, and there was a list of books that they had to look at, recommended by the librarian. Theo once again said nothing and acknowledged him with a flick of his head.

"Are there really this many books on Nucleic acids?" Liam wondered aloud and Theo chuckled quietly, but when Liam looked over he still wasn't smiling. After seeing the ghost of one in science, he couldn't help but wonder what it would take to get him to really show it.

As they looked for books in the many shelves, Liam had a hard time reaching one of them and stood on his toes. He wasn't about to draw attention to his height by asking help from the impossibly taller Theo, but of course he noticed Liam having trouble and reached for it easily. Liam's face flushed red when he looked up at Theo's face. In reality, he was only a few inches shorter, but the whole spectacle Theo had about him only added insult to injury. He muttered out a "thanks" and sat back at their table, opening up the book titled "The Cell's Nucleus." How creative.

He found a lot of facts in it despite being bored just by its title, so he moved onto the next one and the next one until he had a few pages of facts scribbled down. Theo hadn't said a word to him besides things like "Pass me that book," but Liam was content to sit there as long as he knew Theo wasn't doing something bad.

"Wait," Liam thought, breaking the silence. It was dark out, the clock on the wall nearing 8 PM. "Shit, I told my parents I'd be back at seven." Liam looked at his phone and Theo sat up with concern, starting to put books back on the table in a neat stack so he could save them for later. On his screen was a text from his mom, but luckily, she wasn't upset.

Figured you missed the time, It's okay. Be back by 8:30, ok?

Liam sighed a breath of relief. "We're good, nevermind," He told him, and Theo relaxed but didn't stop packing his things back in his bookbag.

"We should probably get going, anyway. My dad's gonna want me back soon," Theo said, his voice dropping slightly on the last part. Liam noticed how he didn't seem like he wanted to go, but didn't say anything about it. He shoved all of his things into his backpack and put his jacket back on, flinging the bag over his shoulder in one swift movement.

"I'll see you tomorrow, thanks for staying so long and helping," Liam said, pushing in his chair. Seeing Liam get up made him do it to, but he wasn't expecting to say anything else besides goodbye.

"Let me walk you out," He said, a little surprised that he did, but decided to go with it. Something about Liam made him want to take a little bit of a detour from his normal ways, and since nothing bad had come of it yet, there was no harm in being a little friendly. Liam gave him a lopsided grin and walked out, Theo by his side as they went out into the brisk nighttime air outside.

As they walked, Theo looked around for his truck and found that it was still safely there in the parking lot just as it should be, and they eventually came to Liam's silver car. "Nice," Theo commented as Liam climbed behind the wheel, setting his bag in the passenger seat. "Black leather? Wouldn't have pegged you to have such a nice car."

Liam feigned offense but laughed, watching as Theo leaned on the open passenger side window, checking out the car. He set down his phone on the little open space the window left, but the two of them were too distracted to notice it fall into the interior with a thud. "Do you want a ride?" Liam offered, but Theo shook his head.

"Nah, my truck is over there."

Theo was focused on how nice Liam's car was, since he had always had an admiration for them, but Liam was only half-surprised to notice that he was definitely checking out Theo. His hair was just a little bit long, one strand falling in his face and framing his large, green eyes that he could still kind of see in the dark. It was when Liam bit his lip without thinking about it when he noticed that damn, Theo was  _hot_.

They both eventually broke out of their staring, Liam's eyes going back to the car and Theo's going onto Liam. "Sorry, I'll see you tomorrow, right?" Theo asked, and Liam nodded. "Alright. Have a good night."

Theo left and Liam started his car, flaring to life with the engine running, Theo's phone almost forgotten on the floor. 


	4. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam finds out something he shouldn't know.

If the glare of Theo's headlights hadn't shone onto the shiny screen of Theo's phone, it might have stayed there for the night, but it was too hard not to notice. "Oh, shit," Liam mumbled, looking to Theo and seeing that his car hadn't left the lot.

Liam rolled down his window to yell to Theo, but even after doing it three times, he still wasn't getting noticed. He watched as Theo's truck pulled out, and sighed. He couldn't just leave Theo's phone there, it was too important, but there was no way to get to him if he didn't  _have_  his phone. The only thing Liam could do was start driving after him, hoping that he could catch up.

Liam turned on his playlist and texted his mom that he was on his way back, silently praying that he wouldn't get home late since he had to go after his classmate. He knew that if it were him, he'd be freaking out about losing his phone, so he thought he was doing the right thing. As he cruised down the roads in pursuit of Theo's truck, he was once again in his thoughts about Theo himself and not that the roads were getting less familiar as he drove.

The young guy didn't think he was particularly easily-impressed when it came to liking people, and it didn't help his case that his first impression of Theo was incredibly poor, but there was something about Theo he couldn't place. It might be that Theo was mysterious and cold and that interested him, or that he seemed so out of place in every crowd he was in but still so comfortable. Or it might be that Theo was hot, like, way too hot for his own good and Liam knew it. There was a reason Theo picked up girls all over the place, and his attractiveness was probably a key reason he could constantly sleep around and still be with Lana.

Even if Liam barely knew the way home to his house since he was new in town, these roads were becoming darker and there was nothing he could recognize. For a second he was afraid he'd lost Theo's car entirely, but the license plate stayed the same the whole time. He trailed behind Theo by a few feet so he wouldn't notice him, since in hindsight following Theo home might be a little weird.

Theo's turn signals went off and Liam stopped when his truck pulled not onto another street but into a fenced lot that was lit only by the streetlights and a few lights inside. It was basically a scrapyard from what he could see of it with pieces of cars everywhere. What was Theo doing here?

Going against the better judgement that he didn't have, Liam pocketed Theo's phone and quietly snuck out of his car and into the scrapyard, observing Theo's moves as he turned off his car. The lot was dark and Liam noticed that the lights he could see were coming from two lanterns.

Liam turned the corner of one of the piles of scrap metal to see Theo leaving all of his things in the car and getting out, but not going anywhere from there.

As he struggled to step around some fallen pipes, Liam's heartbeat grew faster as theories ran through his head. Maybe Theo really did sell drugs. If you were going to do it, this was exactly the place. The silence was only ruined by the sound of clanking and Theo's footsteps as he approached something.

"Theo-" He was about to say before he would walk any further, knowing that even he might not want to see what was there next, but another voice interrupted him.

"It's about time you got home. Were you at Lana's?" A gruff yet tired man said, and Liam peered around a pile of trash to see what was happening. His mind layered over all the words he spoke, but he was stuck on one: home.

Theo was standing by one side of his truck wringing his hands and looking nervous. The other man had been sitting in the bed of his truck but climbed out to look at Theo closer. "No," Theo said truthfully. "I was at the school. Doing a project."

"Do you have the money, at least?" The other man asked, and Theo tensed a little and braced himself.

"Jules, if I had the money I would have given it to you already. She didn't give me any more this week."

The one evidently called Jules laughed wryly, his eyes narrowing in judgement at Theo's apparent naivete. "So she's not even paying you anymore?" he scoffed, and Theo shook his head.

"She is, I just-"

"She's using you, Theo! How many times do I have to say it?" Jules exclaimed, and Theo rolled his eyes. "Lana Danielson doesn't love you." Jules enunciated every syllable and threw it in Theo's face, making him angry.

"For fuck's sake, you think I don't know that?" Theo's voice cracked at the end and Liam felt his heart skip, the emotion in Theo's voice unfamiliar as his smile. "If you've got a problem with the way I get this family money, either get off your ass for once and do it yourself or we can stay in this literal fucking dump for another fifteen years. Or..." Theo's voice was less free now as he moved on, strained and tight as he said his next words as though his throat was half closed. "Leave like he did. You make your own choice."

The air was tense with silence for a second. "Have the money by tomorrow."

"Yeah, no promises."

Theo turned back to hs truck and by that point it was too late for Liam to notice that he was out in the open, having stepped away from the piles concealing his presence. Theo was about to get back into his truck and go to sleep after Jules pulled away, but his eyes caught onto something moving. His heart dropped into his stomach when he realized who it was. "Liam?"

Liam found that his mouth was dry like it had never been before, and he had no idea what to say now. He wasn't supposed to be there, he wasn't supposed to see Theo where he was now or ever. This was his secret, and he'd just invaded it without even thinking about the consequences. He swallowed hard and held out Theo's phone, just now noticing the spiderweb cracks it had in the cold screen that he hoped hadn't occurred just then. "You-You left this in my car."

"Jesus Christ, this is why I can't have you around here!" Theo growled low in his throat as he walked towards Liam, but the anger in his voice was too covered with the true exhaustion and fear to be taken the right way. He took his phone from Liam's outstretched hand. _Stupid, stupid, stupid._ He was too caught up in his own drooling over some stupid car to notice his entire phone slip out of his hand and give away everything he had to hide.

Liam could see his tensed shoulders and his breath coming out into the cold with small jets of vapor, it being well below freezing. He could see the mix of emotions in his eyes. Mortification, anger, sadness, fear, just an overwhelming combination of being so far beyond hurt. "Theo, it's okay, I won't tell anyone," Liam started in a rush, but Theo couldn't let him finish.

"Just go."

There was no power in his voice, but Liam obeyed, his stomach in a knot of guilt of knowing something he wasn't supposed to. This was worse than the inferiority he felt when he'd done something out of anger, because that was his IED talking, it wasn't really him being an irrational and impulsive idiot. This, though, was all him. He came there out of his own personal selfishness in wanting to know what was going on, subconscience or not, and now that he'd seen only a glimpse of what Theo was going through, he wished he never had.

He headed back to his car with a heavy heart, seeing that Theo's truck was showing no signs of pulling away, because that was it. That was home. He had his head resting on the back window, curling up with a blanket, and Liam was once again hit with the wave of faultiness that he'd felt so many times before.

Maybe it was time to give it a break with Theo Raeken, or rather, give Theo Raeken a break. Liam only ever seemed to make things worse.


	5. Snap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that someone knows his secrets, Theo can't help but just snap.

The next few days of working with Theo weren't only unpleasant, they were fucking brutal. It had been going so well, but now they were back at square one and Liam hated himself for it. While they had been borderline friendly in that classmate kind of way, Theo now only looked at him when he thought Liam wouldn't notice (even though he did almost every time) and spared him nothing but one word answers to any nervously posed questions about the project.

Theo had no idea how much Liam knew, and he sure as hell wasn't about to ask. If he could save himself the embarrassment of talking about it, he'd do anything. The fact of the matter was that Theo's plan had failed even after a year of it going off without a hitch. It was just him and Lana who knew about it, but now she wasn't even in his mind anymore, and now he was stuck with the knowledge that he and his family were so far beyond getting help that it was like a dark pit. To put it eloquently, this sucked. Liam had seemed pretty nice and he could even admit that the new kid was growing on him a little, but now that Liam had seen him he didn't even know how to talk to him. So he shut down as he always did, like a turtle retreating back into its shell. Was it the coward's way? Yes, but Theo didn't mind being seen as weak by one person who'd undoubtedly forget about him if it meant he could keep up the good image.

At least there was lacrosse that day, tryouts, which always got him going. Lana would show up to watch him and cheer him- oh. Nevermind. Lana considered him a replacement, why would she want to watch his lacrosse tryouts. His chest that had once been filled with an undefined heaviness burned with anger that he'd pushed down.

Yeah, Theo knew that he and Lana weren't exactly the best couple before. They never really said they had an open relationship, but Theo still came and went as he pleased anyway since it wasn't exactly hard for him to pick someone up, but it must seem weird for the people watching who weren't involved. Now it was completely different. As much as Jules badgered him about Lana using him, Theo didn't mind until he knew he was right. The only person who'd ever seemed to care about him and his troubles had been fake all along, so what was the point?

Lacrosse was all he looked forward to all day after long hours of avoiding his project partners and evading the stares of Liam's friends. Hayden looked at him like he had two heads even when he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, and Mason was in general being annoying by staring. Even Corey, who was on the team with him, was acting different. It hit him hard when he realized they might be staring because they knew.

His thoughts only resulted in that burning in his chest flaring up again, and Theo snapped one of his pencils in frustration as he sat in his last period language arts class. "Woah," Lana laughed. "Little stressed?" Theo didn't answer, bitterly wondering why Lana even sat next to him if she didn't even like him. "You okay?"

"You don't have to act fake-concerned." Theo dropped the pieces of splitery yellow wood and graphite onto the ground, listening to them crack under his feet. "I heard what you said to Hayden a few days ago."

Lana bit her tongue and said nothing, about to open her mouth when Theo spoke again. "Jules was asking for the money. If you're not doing that anymore then we can schedule a public breakup. You know, since you love getting Hayden's attention and all."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lana started, and Theo rolled his eyes and gave her a dry, fake smile.

"Oh, really? I remember it quite clearly, actually, you talking about what you used to do with her and how 'We belong together, not you and tracy, not me and Theo!'" He hissed, imitating her words exactly as he remembered them so she couldn't deny it. "Honestly, whatever. Ball's in your court, now."

Lana clenched her teeth and unzipped her bag, angry at herself for knowing she'd been caught. "Fine," She wavered, "Take your shit. Go ahead and find some other girl just like you did during this relationship, I don't care. Whatever you want to do," She said, her voice betraying her careless words as it shook and broke.

"I'm glad I did," Theo spat. "Considering this entire 'relationship' was just a depressing lie. What are you going to do, huh?"

"I'll tell you what we're going to do," Lana snapped, voice low and dangerous. She leaned towards him. "I'm going to keep giving you this money because god knows without it you'd starve, and you're going to act like you're still my boyfriend, because you know what, Theo?" She paused, making sure Theo was listening. "You wouldn't get anyone else, because no matter how secretive you want to be, even if they don't know the specifics, everyone knows you're damaged. That's why the other girls you pick up stay for the sex and leave the next morning. They know." Lana shoved the cash into Theo's backpack and got out of her seat, leaving Theo alone to stew in her words and heading over to some of her friends like nothing had happened.

Theo walked out of language arts with his stomach feeling like it was twisted, all alone. Not even Lana was there walking with him, and even if her presence was fake, she was still at least there. His chest hurt again, and he debated just going home, but he couldn't. There were tryouts, and he couldn't risk getting his spot taken.

\--

Theo couldn't say he was thrilled to see a bunch of new faces in the locker room, all bright and perky and ready to try out, but he was especially upset that Liam was there. He had nothing against Liam personally, of course, but seriously? He had planned to use lacrosse as a way to get away from this problem, but that was a failure. Theo went and got changed into his jersey, trying to ignore his nagging thoughts.

While Theo was pretty much guaranteed to stay on the team since a lot of the other players' grades were slipping, he still needed to try out like everyone else. He would be practicing his shots and agility for coach Finstock so he could begrudgingly put him on the team for another semester. Maybe Finstock didn't particularly like the guy, but he couldn't deny that Theo was one of their best players.

Corey stood by Liam's side out on the field, making sure Liam would be okay, but Liam wasn't too nervous. He knew he was pretty fast and had a good aim, and he was eager to get back into playing Lacrosse after a long time. Even David and his mom agreed that it'd be a good idea to start playing again, but it came with fair warning that if Liam got too angry about it it was going to be shut down quick. Liam was determined to be on this team and just as hell-bent on keeping his IED under control, so the two wouldn't conflict. Liam could let his anger out on the field and get some of the constant adrenaline out, which would be a pleasing variant from just being bored and fidgety.

"Alright, line it up!" Finstock yelled, and Liam stepped in line next to Corey, the players all horizontal across the grass. "We're starting with agility, you'll be doing suicide runs." A few of the players groaned and Theo had to sigh, but Finstock wasn't hearing it. Liam wasn't too nervous, he had done them a lot back in Devenford and got kind of used to them.

The players were going in alphabetical order by last names, two at a time. They had to pick up a block from where it was about thirty feet away and run it back to center field, and then rush back to get the other one in under a certain amount of time. All of the guys had already set records for themselves, Theo having to get them in under nine seconds and Corey ten, but Liam would be setting his own today. They started with Adams and Aldan, each running their turns, followed by Bryant and Calhoun. Corey beat his last score by one second and everyone cheered for him, Mason, Hayden, and Tracy yelling from the bleachers as he smiled at them.

"Dunbar and Elliot!" Finstock called up to the line. Liam took a deep breath and focused on the two wooden blocks, planting his feet in the soil for a good kickoff. He waited for the loud screech of Coach's whistle, and when he got it, he kicked off from the little pit he made in the grass and took off running towards the first block. He picked it up with ease and ran back to centerfield, tossing it down unceremoniously, immediately rushing back. Once his hand met the second block, he was less focused on his time and more at the task at hand, proving to himself he could do it. The wood hit the ground with a soft thump that was elevated by the adrenaline of his actions, and Coach stopped his stopwatch. "Seven point nine seconds," Finstock said, his voice laced with surprise. "Good job, Dunbar."

The three in the bleachers yelled with excitement and Corey came over to clap him on the shoulder. "Damn, Liam!" He exclaimed. "You're friggin' fast!"

Even Theo, who had been trying to ignore Liam's presence, was impressed and raised his eyebrows. He saw Liam's friends on the bleachers and felt something bittersweet: it was nice to see that Liam had people to support him, but even after nine years in Beacon Hills schools he had no one.

Still, he shook this off as he stretched for his turn, the next couple of letters going. He wondered if he could beat Liam's speed, but the fastest he'd ever gotten was still a good second above it and it had stayed that way for two years in a row. He was trying not to focus on Liam, but his run was admittedly really good, better than ninety percent of the other players. He might get on the team from speed alone.

"Raeken, Ryan!" Finstock yelled to a few groups next. Aaron Ryan was already one of his teammates, and a pretty good one at that, so he hoped that he'd still be on the team by the time tryouts were done. Aaron had been pretty nice to him. They weren't friends or anything, but Theo would hate to see him go. The whistle tweeted and Theo took off, rushing towards the blocks and diving for them like it was the last thing he'd do, throwing it into the grass so hard it made a small clunk against the dirt. The first one was done, and then the second, leaving Theo breathing roughly twice before regaining his footing. Coach looked at the stopwatch. "Eight point nine."

Theo groaned and threw his head back, walking off towards the rest of the team. Great, 1/10th of a second was shaved off his time, but it wasn't enough. Hopefully his shots would be better.

Everyone lined up once again, this time in front of the goal. Corey was playing as the goalie for the moment, but they'd switch out and do it again with another prospective goalie. Liam took his shots with ease, almost all of them getting past the experienced goalie, and when another was switched out, he got every single one into the net. Hayden, Mason, and Tracy were literally shrieking at that point, and Liam smiled to them brightly.

"Alright, Dunbar," FInstock started, walking up to him. "Since you're good at this already, why don't we try something else? Play goalie."

Liam grinned and nodded, ready. He'd played goalie before, and this was no problem for him. The goalie passed him the helmet and stick, and Theo watched as he got into position, half crouched in the net. There were a few more guys in front of him, but he'd soon enough have to go against him.

The first shots were a little awkward to deflect, but Liam still blocked them all and even shot one back out, tossing it to the next guy in line. He hurled the ball as hard as he possibly could, but even if it were at risk of hurting Liam's head he didn't flinch and caught it with the stick, deflecting them all. Finstock couldn't even say anything about it, Liam was getting on that team. 

When Theo was up there was a new tension in the air, but no one besides the two of them could sense it. Theo scooped up the white ball on the end of his stick, twirling it once and positioning it over his shoulder so he'd have a clear throw, tossing it the best he could towards the blind spot of the goal. For a split second he thought it'd go in as he scooped up another ball off the grass, but Liam blocked it. He pegged the second, then the third, then the fourth, still nothing, but he was relieved when the fifth went in and he could finally be done.

\---

The locker room was a lot of commotion after everything that had happened, Corey still stuck to Liam's side. Besides the numerous sweaty bodies all around him, Liam was the second most distracting thing in there. He knew he had to do something, he had to suck it up and make the effort to seem normal.

After what had happened with Lana, he didn't think he could take losing someone else, even if it was just a classmate. "Hey Corey?" He found himself saying, since he knew that Liam and Corey were really the only thing close to "mutual friends" that he had. Corey looked up from where he was changing out of his jersey and walked over, looking confused. "Can you, uh, tell Liam I need to talk to him? It's for the project," He said, trying to seem casual but probably failing. Corey nodded and walked back to Liam, talking to him quietly so no one else could hear. Liam looked over at him once and then back to Corey, and waited for everyone else to leave. They both knew they weren't talking about the project.

Once everyone was gone, Liam approached Theo cautiously like he was afraid he would change his mind and blow up at him, but he didn't. "That was a good run out there," Theo started, allowing the smallest little smile to come on his face. It was barely anything, but it wasn't the normal frown. "Listen, I'm really sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Liam asked, still feeling bad. "I was the one who...yeah," He trailed off, figuring he might not want to have it said out loud.

"I just, I don't-" Theo stammered. This was hard for him, since socializing generally came easy if he didn't care about who he was talking to, but Liam held a new importance that was beyond a classmate now. "I don't want things to be terrible between us just because of a slip-up. And I think we should start working on the project again."

Liam nodded, a grin coming to his face. "Okay!" He said a little too excitedly, just relieved that Theo was making an effort to make things better. "Well, whenever you want to meet up, just shoot me a text. Here's my number," Liam mumbled the last part, taking a scrap of paper and pencil out of his bookbag and leaning against a locker to write it down. "But I'll see you on Monday, okay?"

"Right," Theo said. "See you Monday."

And for now, he looked forward to it. Although he was mostly anxious because Liam knew about the truck and the money, he also felt something else, something he couldn't place.

But knowing Theo, he wasn't one to be in touch with his emotions. He walked out to his truck, forgetting about the conflict that his mind was creating, and drove off towards Jules' scrapyard, waiting for Monday like it was his chance of getting off death row.


	6. Prep(aration)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People of Liam's past come back to bite him.

Upon entering the cafeteria that monday, things seemed different, and it took Theo a second to realize what was up. For one thing, Lana was nowhere near the team's table, but there still wasn't any space left over. When he realized that Liam was at the table, he raised his eyebrows and walked over, taking his normal spot next to Stiles and Scott, two of the other players. Still, it was a little weird having Liam there.

Even though they'd made up, that wasn't the odd part. The strangeness of Liam sitting at the team table was only there because Liam wasn't technically even part of the team yet, and it was a little surprising they let him sit there. Usually they had to at least be invited by someone and either be on or dating someone on the team, but people seemed to like Liam enough that he fit right in.

"Hey, guys," Theo greeted, sliding into place. Liam grinned in his direction and he nodded back, keeping his reaction to a minimum. "Fancy seeing you here, Liam."

Corey looked like he was a little insulted on Liam's behalf and opened his mouth to defend him, but Liam didn't let him. "Yeah, well, I'm still just a guest until the team list comes out," Liam joked, taking a sip of his lemonade.

"Confident, are we?" Stiles teased. "Assuming you get on the team."

"Oh, shut up, Stiles, we all know he's getting on the team," Theo found himself protesting, pointing a fry in his direction and laughing lightly. Liam's face heated up and he looked down at the table so no one would see, and Theo did almost the same when Stiles laughed at him. "Anyway. Who are we playing against on Friday?"

Corey shrugged. "Coach didn't say anything yet, you know how he is. Not wanting to psych us out."

"We're also less than a week away," Theo grumbled. "Think we'd want to know by now."

Liam agreed with a nod of his head. Oddly enough, sitting with the guys on the lacrosse team wasn't nearly as hard as he thought it would be. He assumed they'd be jerks like they were at Devenford, but Liam was growing to enjoy the aspects of difference those two schools had. Even the jerks were better. E.G. the divide between Theo Raeken and Brett Talbot: One was misunderstood and another was just an asshole, take your pick.

"Coach usually tells us who we're playing against a day before the game," Corey explained to Liam, sounding as exasperated about it as everyone else felt. Liam didn't mind too much, since he didn't know how this team usually operated, but he read the room and acted annoyed too.

When the lunch bell rang, Liam caught up with Mason, Tracy, and Hayden so they could walk to biology together, Theo going alone and Corey taking a different route. "Ready for another day of Julianne Alvarez's torture?" Hayden sighed, mostly referring to Tracy and Liam, but everyone nodded. Liam didn't consider this class to be quite  _tortuous_  anymore, maybe veering into just awkward, but it was fine.

Liam went straight to the back of the room, knowing that Mrs. Alvarez had promised a whole period to work on the project, so he took the seat next to Theo's before he even got there. Theo smiled to himself when he saw Liam waiting for him, looking cute as ever with a book balanced in one hand and his phone in the other.

Wait, cute?

Shaking that thought off, Theo approached the desk and sat down next to him. "How was your weekend?" He asked in an attempt at small talk, and Liam shrugged.

"It was fine. Nothing new happened, really."

"Sometimes no news is good news. Did you like sitting with the guys? They can be a little much."

"They were pretty cool, yeah. A lot different than the guys at my old school, for sure, but I guess that's what I like about them."

"What about me?" Theo asked, a smirk on his face as he leaned forward on his hands, elbows propped on the surface of the desk. "Am I different?"

Liam debated whether or not he should say his bit about not being 'just an asshole,' but he didn't. "You're alright, Raeken," He chuckled, opening up his book to the page he left off on. Theo chuckled and got to work, starting to take out the notes he did a few days before. They were still in the planning process of the work, but they were in no rush since Mrs. Alvarez gave them a few weeks.

As Theo wrote down some facts about the subject, Liam found his eyes wandering to his hands. He wondered why Theo wore all those silver rings, one on his middle finger and one on his thumb, both just simple silver bands. Only on his right hand though; his left was bare except for a tiny mark on his index finger that was tapping away on the table absentmindedly. His eyes then trailed to his arm, which was covered by an army-green jacket over white T-shirt, and then up to his exposed collarbone. His eyes went to his neck next, taking him in without meaning to, and then let them flick up to Theo's face, the same one he'd admired before when Theo dropped the phone in his car. Whether it was weird or not to be checking out Theo, it was a different feeling to feel zero remorse. If somebody was going to be that attractive, Liam was going to look.

Theo looked up when he felt Liam's gaze on him, but when he checked to see if his suspicions were true, Liam was back to looking at his book. Too bad. He wouldn't have minded if Liam was looking.

"So, do you want to meet in the library tonight?" Theo asked. It was the first time he'd mentioned it since the "incident," so he was a little nervous. "I can stay until six."

"Sure, I'll tell my mom I'm staying. Do you think coach will have the team list by tomorrow?" He said, tapping the eraser of his pencil against his lip in a way that Theo was ashamed to find so attractive. He nodded in Liam's direction, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth and pulling away.

Why was he doing this all the sudden? It wasn't out of the ordinary for him to do this with a girl, just like he'd done with all of his ex-girlfriends and the ones he just had a night with, but he'd never thought about a guy that way. And since Theo didn't talk much, that left a lot of time to be observant and thoughtful, meaning he realized exactly when he started looking at Liam like this. Well, today, at least. He was probably doing it before and didn't even realize it.

So he wasn't all the way sure why he had taken this opinion of Liam, but all he knew was that he wasn't about to fuck it up by saying anything. For now, they were going to the library to study, and that was all that mattered.

\--

_Three hours later, Beacon Hills High Library_

"Is a nucleic acid some kind of protein?"

"Are you kidding me right now? What do you think?"

"...yes?"

"No!"

\--

_Ten minutes later, Beacon Hills High Library_

"Look, we can't all be biology professors."

"There's a difference between being a biology professor and knowing what a fucking nucleic acid is, Liam."

"I do know what a nucleic acid is!"

"Apparently not!"

\---

_Twenty Minutes Later, Beacon Hills High Library_

"Name one thing you know about a nucleic acid that I don't."

"Nucleic acids are made of a series of types of nucleotides."

"That sounds exactly like some biology-teacher type of knowledge."

"Dude, it's literally in the first unit of the chapter! Try reading!"

\--

Thursday afternoon rolled around, three days after Liam and Theo had previously met at the library. Once again, Theo got most of his notes done neatly and quickly so they'd have a lot to work with, but Liam was too busy getting distracted by other things.

What neither of them had expected, though, was to still be feeling like how they did on Monday about each other. Liam still found Theo undeniably sexy and had even almost let that slip to Mason, and Theo still liked Liam's company. One thing still bothered Liam, though; not once had he seen a true smile from Theo.

The team list had come out and literally no one was surprised that the new boy had made the team, and they were starting practice for the first game of the season. Coach would be announcing who they were playing against that day, and while Liam wasn't particularly focused on it, he was still excited to be playing in his first game at Beacon Hills. For Theo, this was nearing into his thirtieth or fortieth game, but he still got the same rush of adrenaline he got all the time.

As everyone practiced their throws and drills, Theo was pleased to find that Liam was gravitating towards him and not avoiding him like most would. Corey occasionally looked at him weird and Liam's friends in the bleachers would shoot him some, but he didn't mind. All he paid attention to was the way Liam actually seemed to care about what he was saying, and that felt  _good_. After years of people who never gave him any time or were fake, it was refreshing to talk to someone who genuinely listened. "How are you feeling?" He asked Liam, who shrugged. "About the game, I mean."

"I'm fine. A little anxious, but in a good way, I guess."

"It'll be okay, there's nothing to worry about. The team doesn't win too much, but we still play hard."

"So I've seen," Liam chuckled as two players rammed into each other a lot harder than necessary. "I'm just going to try not to get my shoulder dislocated."

Theo laughed next to him, and Liam looked up. He loved it when Theo laughed, but his heart jumped in his chest as he realized something else: Theo was smiling. Not a smirk, not a trace, a smile that was wide and showed his teeth as he gave that short noise. Liam loved that he was the one to put it there, watching Theo stand with a new sense of life in his expression. When his smile fell, Liam was still looking as though it had never disappeared, looking away only when Theo noticed.

That felt like some kind of milestone, and Liam was glad that the first time he saw Theo smile was because of something he did.

"Alright, gather up!" Coach yelled, clapping his hands. All of the players gathered to centerfield, their dark red jerseys making a dark spot on the green field. Liam liked these a lot better than the old green ones he had to wear at Devenford, they just looked better. "The team we're playing on Friday comes from about an hour away, so they've driven their players out today. Their bus is arriving now, so I want all you uncivilized hooligans to pull it together."

Theo elbowed Liam in the ribs. "Ooh, somewhere fancy?" He muttered mockingly, and Liam shrugged, much more focused on how close Theo was than whatever coach was saying.

There was a lot less attention put on Theo, though, as those all too-familiar green jerseys showed up on the field, the tallest player leading them all. Theo watched as Liam tensed up next to him and wondered why. His heart rate went up way too fast for it to be normal and Liam could feel it thrumming in his chest like a kind of drum.

"Guys, welcome Devenford Prep. This is Brett Talbot, Captain. Brett, this is Theo Raeken and Scott McCall, Co-Captains."

So many thoughts ran through Liam's head as Theo stepped forward to shake Brett's hand. Brett was here? What if he did something? What if his anger got the best of him? Co-Captain?

"Since when are you Co-Captain?" Liam whispered, trying to distract himself from the amused looks his old classmates from Devenford gave him as they shook his hand.

"Since this semester's team list was set," Theo replied casually, and Liam felt like he had missed something big.

"And you didn't tell me?" He asked incredulously, but Theo just shrugged in response.

"Wasn't important."

Even though Liam seemed to think it was, there was somebody who was making himself important now right in front of him. Brett had just shaken Theo's hand for the second time, but he stopped at Liam and smirked. "Fancy seeing your here, Dunbar," He said loud enough for both teams to hear, and Liam realized he was doing exactly as he was afraid he would. Causing a scene in front of the people who had just met him. "How are you doing? Or, rather, how is your coach's car doing?"

The Devenford team laughed and Liam dug his fingernails into his palm, trying desperately not to say anything. "At least it's a better environment for you here. I mean, I'm sure at a school like this, it's a lot more accepted to do shit like start throwing desks. You know, typical Tuesday-"

"Move along, Brett," Devenford's coach warned, putting his hands on both of Brett's shoulders and pushing him so he couldn't talk to Liam anymore, shooting Liam a scowl like it was all his fault that Brett said anything.

As Devenford moved off the field, the eyes of his teammates at Beacon were all on him. Corey looked sympathetic and confused, but everyone else was just plain bewildered at the words Brett had said. Theo, however, was thinking something different.

_This kid just got a whole lot more interesting._


	7. A Spot Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo takes Liam to a place he hasn't dared bring anyone.

Getting back to the locker room, some of the guys avoided Liam altogether. Some didn't care about what Brett had said about throwing desks and asking about Coach's car, but others were a little too uncomfortable to ask about it in fear of getting a bad reaction. Others just didn't know Liam well enough to talk to him.

"Liam, are you okay?" Corey asked, and Liam nodded, though frustration was still showing on his face. Liam took his jersey off and replaced it with the T-Shirt he had been wearing before, shoving the red into his locker.

"Fine," He said shortly, not wanting to get into it. Corey deserved to know what happened, but that wasn't the point. Nobody was supposed to know about it, much less coming from the mouth of the bitch known as Brett Talbot. "I just have a lot of work to do, I'm a little stressed out."

Corey decided not to bother him about it too much more, but as Corey walked off, Theo couldn't help but want to see what was going on. It was unlike him, but he was curious. He still said nothing about it as he watched from the side as Liam threw things into his locker and shut it unceremoniously.

He made the plan without thinking about it, only in the back of his mind knowing that it might blow up. Theo wasn't sure how being friends with someone worked as it had been so long since he had had one before, but he was willing to try.

\--

Liam went home that day feeling like complete and total garbage, and everyone in that house knew it. He usually came in and at least said hi to everyone before going and hiding away in his room, but today he came in and said nothing. He ran upstairs and shut the door, flinging himself onto his bed with frustration. Jenna and David, his mother and stepfather, both shared a knowing look before getting off the couch in the family room and heading that direction. While they knew that Liam generally wanted to be alone when he was upset, it had been a long time since he had a bad day like this and they wanted to make sure he was alright.

He was really anything but alright, he was fuming and trying not to let himself break loose. The crescents of tension in his fists were still there from digging his fingernails into his palm, and his jaw held a tension that it normally didn't. Jenna knocked on the door tentatively, hoping that he wasn't going to blow up at her. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Liam. "Li?" She asked, rapping on the wood with one finger, David standing right behind her.

"Come in," Liam grumbled, knowing he couldn't just ignore his mom and David. They meant well, and he owed it to them after everything to at least try and be a good son. He heard the mechanism of the door click slowly, and Jenna stepped in first, David following right after. Liam was facedown on his bed, seeing them out of the corner of his eye.

"Baby? You okay?" Jenna asked, looking at her son nervously. Liam shrugged and kept his mouth shut, worrying that he might never stop yelling if he tried and talked. "Did something happen? You're home early."

Usually, Jenna and David were at work, but David had just finished up a nightshift at the hospital and got to stay home. Jenna was on maternity leave, so she was happy to be able to see Liam through his first few weeks of school. Up until now, nothing had happened that required her concern, but not all good things lasted.

"We're playing against Devenford," Liam mumbled so it was almost inaudible, but Jenna understood it perfectly like a mom does. She rubbed his back supportively, something she knew Liam liked, and looked at David with worry in her eyes. "Brett came to the school today. Asked about Coach Finstock's car like I was going to destroy it."

"Oh," Jenna sighed, her hand pausing and her face contorting into a pained cringe. "I'm so sorry, Li." She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything at all, waiting for the inevitable fallout. One thing Jenna had learned in her sixteen years of having a son with an IED, it was that Liam was different every time, but it usually fell into one of two categories: sadness or anger. As he grew older, it was mostly anger, but as Liam began to shake under her again, it took a second to realize that he wasn't angry. He was crying.

Jenna thought she could feel her heart breaking in her chest as she heard the first sniffle come out of him, once again looking to David with tearful eyes that matched her son's. "Oh, god," she breathed. She could handle the anger alright, and she'd gotten rather used to it, but nothing ever prepared her for when Liam cried.

"They're all going to know now. I bet he'll tell everyone. He hates me, mom, why wouldn't he?" He sniffed, wishing he was anywhere but here, anywhere but where Brett was. "He did it before and he'll do it again."

"Uh-hey, at least he won't be able to hit you with lacrosse balls again?" David tried to contribute from behind Jenna, who gave him a look that could only be read as _'David what the fuck?_ ' but luckily, Liam didn't get mad. David tried to dispel Liam's anger and sadness with humor all the time and Jenna never understood how he could do it without screwing it up, but it generally worked.

"I guess you're right," Liam said, voice muffled by his pillow.

"Alright, Li. I'm going to give you some alone time, but you come and get me when you need me, okay?" Jenna asked, slowly getting up from the bed, to which Liam nodded.

"I love you," Liam said to both Jenna and David, and David smiled, eyes crinkling at the corners.

"We love you too, Li," Jenna said quietly, giving him one last pat on the back before walking out, leaving Liam alone. There was something calming about her presence, and usually it wasn't this easy, but Liam was too tired to really be upset anymore.

His eyes felt heavy as he went through the rest of his day, eventually falling back into bed and into a sleep he didn't want to come out of.

\---

Theo waited for Liam to get to school, wanting to talk to him right away. He'd been thinking about he wanted to do all night, and it kind of kept him awake. Although it was hard to sleep in a truck, he still wondered if doing this was a good idea and that made him anxious as ever.

When he saw Liam come in looking upset, he pushed off from where he was leaning on his locker and went to talk to him before someone else intercepted him. Lana was looking for him, but he ignored her in pursuit of someone who had just become a lot more important. "Hey," He said softly, surprised at his own voice. Liam's blue eyes looked up from where they were focused on the floor. "You okay?"

Liam nodded. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"  _Besides the fact that the Devenford Prep kids are still walking around this school like it's theirs and they're going to be in my classes and you're in front of me and damn you smell good, yeah, peachy._ "Listen, I don't think I'll be able to do any library stuff today, I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment." He wasn't sure what made him think it was a good idea to say that, but something about Theo made him feel like he could trust him, even if that was the exact opposite of what Mason and the rest had said.

"Oh, that's fine, don't worry about it. I figured with the game and all-" Theo stopped when he found himself mentioning the game, knowing it made Liam anxious. "Yeah, we'll just work on it in class, okay?" He asked, trying to be friendly. Liam nodded and Theo gave him a tiny grin and walked on, feeling good about at least having talked to Liam a little bit.

Liam didn't have much time to be alone before someone else came up to him, four, to be exact. "Hey, Liam," Hayden said, not knowing what had been going on at lacrosse practice the day before. She had left early to get started on her homework just before everything went down with Brett and Liam, and Corey, Mason, and Tracy figured it was something better off left to Liam to talk about if he wanted to. "So, uh, Theo?" She asked, not really a specific question, but Liam shrugged. "That's...different. Everything okay?"

"I'm fine, he's fine, we're all fine," Liam said in a tired state, walking to his locker and trying to dodge the questions of his friends.

"Liam, I swear I'm not trying to be judgy, I'm just..." Hayden trailed off. "I'm just worried, okay? He doesn't have a good track record with people."

"It's not like I'm doing anything with him," Liam said, only half-lying. He _was_ doing things with him, but those were mostly in his own head as he endlessly flirted around with the idea that he and Theo could be something. "If something was wrong, I'd stay away."

"Alright," Hayden said, sensing it was time to stop talking about it. Liam knew she meant well, but at this point, his views were so skewed on so many things.

\---

Liam was only really happy to be in a class when it was science, which meant he got to see Theo again. Of course, his brief good mood had to be ruined.

The Devenford students were observing classes that day like the traveling teams generally did, which meant that at least five would be there. Four of them walked in that Liam were on edge about, but Theo watched Liam's hand curl around his pencil and squeeze down hard when Brett came last. "Are you okay?" He whispered, and Liam nodded slowly, trying not to make eye contact with the smirking Brett.

"Hi, guys, you can take a seat anywhere there's a free spot," Mrs. Alvarez instructed the players. They weren't in their jerseys anymore, except for Brett, since it was a tradition for the captain to wear the team emblem before a game. Brett kept looking at him the whole time he looked for a seat, and Liam sucked in a bunch of air when he realized there was an empty desk next to Theo and his. Brett settled in and gave Liam a pointed look, and Theo looked between the two of them with concern for Liam. "We're all just working on report projects for a certain type of cell function. You can watch a group."

Liam gritted his teeth and started to get his stuff out, ignoring both of the looks he got from Theo and Brett. While he knew Theo was only wondering what was going on, Brett's stare wasn't nearly as wanted.

Brett scooted his chair over to their desk with a squeak on the tiled floor. "Hey, how are you?" He asked Theo, who didn't say anything since it was clear he wasn't there to talk to him. "Liam, I didn't know you were in this class. These stools seem pretty easy to break, don't they?"

"Can you pass me the notesheet?" Liam asked to get Brett to shut up, but he didn't.

"If somebody got upset enough, they could just hit one of these against a desk, and bam!" Brett mimicked an explosion, and Liam bit his tongue while Theo rolled his eyes. "Theo, have you ever seen that? A teenage boy just, damn, breaking a chair? It's really a sight to see if you haven't."

"Nope," Theo said shortly. "Not interested."

"Really? It makes a really nice cracking sound!" Brett emphasized, and his teammates from all sides of the room laughed. Liam scowled at his paper, willing himself to keep it under control. The last thing he wanted to do was prove Brett right, but there was a huge, loud voice saying that if he was going to break another chair, it would be over Brett's stupid head.

"Why don't you go bother someone else?" Theo suggested, letting Liam stay quiet. Brett shrugged but turned his attention to the Beacon Hills Co-Captain, who was obviously not taking his bull.

"I don't know, man, you're pretty easy on the eyes," Brett mentioned, and Liam bit both his lips to avoid saying anything. "You work out a lot?"

"Fuck off," Theo said flatly.

"Ouch, that hurt!" Brett feigned offence and pushed away from the desk. "You could have just said you didn't like guys."

"I didn't say that, I just don't like you," Theo shot, and Liam raised his eyebrows at the slight chance that Theo could like boys, even if that was the least important thing going on.

"Point taken. I guess I'll be back," Brett said, getting up and walking off towards some other desk.

"Don't," Theo called, but Brett just smirked and left.

Liam opened his mouth to say something but stopped, going back to writing. He wanted to talk to Theo, but another part of him made him just want to shut up and never stop. Theo respected that, since that was how he felt most of the time, and Liam was thankful.

A few seats up though, Brett had moved onto Lana and Tracy. He was currently saying something to Lana that was making her nervously fidget, a smile on her face that had a hint of discomfort. Brett had a flirty look on his face, and Theo rolled his eyes when he tried flirting with Tracy, who gave a look of utter disgust by being flirted with by Brett. "So what do you two say? Instead of hanging with that anger case, why don't you come for a spin in the car?"

"Talbot," Theo found himself saying, again in a flat tone of voice, this time laced with frustration. "Quit flirting with my girlfriend and stop bothering Liam."

Brett looked amused and just gave a hand motion like he didn't know what Theo was talking about, displeased when he was met with no reaction. Hayden looked back at Theo with a surprised expression, not having expected Theo to say anything about Liam. She honestly had no idea what had happened between Brett and Liam, or that something weird was going on with Theo and Liam. She turned back to her paper and gave a small smile to herself, happy that things were going well for Liam.

"Are you sure you don't use extra volume shampoo? Conditioner?" Her partner Josh asked, and she sighed.

"For the last time, I'm sure."

\--

Theo was walking out of his last period class, trying to find Liam, but he was interrupted by Lana. "Hey, um," She started, walking up to him quickly, heels clicking on the tiled floor. She felt bad about what she said about Theo when they broke up, so it was only right that she said something now. "Thanks for that. In the science lab."

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for him," Theo stated, not even looking at her.

"Wha- Brett?" She asked, about to be offended, but Theo shook his head.

"Liam. You and Brett deserve each other, anyway. Maybe if you ever get over Hayden you should go to him."

He left her on that note, rounding a corner where he knew Liam's locker was. However, there was someone else there, and when he attempted to walk past the tall captain, he was cornered. Theo was a little taller than Liam, but had to look way up to look at Brett's face. He had a good six inches on him, and that pissed him off.

"Hey, Raeken. So I'm guessing you and Dunbar are a little buddy-buddy now, right? Let me give you a word of warning."

"I don't want your fucking warning," Theo sighed. "I can deal with my shit and he deals with his."

"Yeah, that's how it always starts," Brett protested with a wry laugh. "But then he pulls you in and one day, boom. You're not friends anymore, you're just a guy he threw a chair at." Brett put his hand on Theo's shoulder and he looked at it with disgust.

"Oh, shut  _up_ , Talbot." Theo was about to say something else when he heard footsteps coming towards him, looking to where the noise was coming from. Just as he feared, it was Liam, looking from him to Brett with worry in his eyes. He turned on his heel and started to walk away quickly, and Theo shook the hand off. "If you'll excuse me."

He followed after Liam. "Liam, wait up!" He called down the mostly clear hallway. "Let me- Let me say something!"

"What, Theo?" Liam asked, sounding like he'd been through this before. He had been, so many times. People caught wind of all the things he did, and the people he had been talking to just turned away.

"Are you alright?" He asked once again, placing a hand on Liam's shoulder. He flinched but made no attempt to get away from the warmth of Theo's hand, looking up at him. He didn't have to answer before Theo looked around. "Let's get out of here. There's a place I know, a spot away, come on."

\--

Liam had expected to still be at the school when Theo said he knew a place to go, but he found himself in the front seat of Theo's truck, silently listening to the sound of gravelly roads crunching under the tires. "Where are we going?" He finally asked when they'd been driving for awhile.

"There's a place I like to go when I have to get away from people or when I'm having trouble. There's a little outlook on the town up here, we're almost here."

Theo's truck stopped on a ridge, the cliff overlooking Beacon Hills. There was a little bit of dirt that a few cars could fit on, the rest being all trees. "This is why they call it Beacon Hills," Theo said, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door, stepping out into the fresh air. It was still chilly for January, so he put on the jacket that was in the back of his car and looked around, waiting for Liam to get out next. When he did, Theo jumped in the bed of his truck, motioning with a flick of his head for Liam to come next to him. "It looks nice when it gets dark. All the lights are on and stuff, and from the looks of it we won't have to wait long."

"It's nice," Liam said, looking around at everything. There were beer bottles and litter found occasionally around the grass, but other than that, he could only see nature. "You come here a lot?"

Theo considered this and Liam was met with a shrug. "Just when things get to be too much. And it kind of seemed like things were getting that way today."

Liam nodded, quiet as he settled into the back. Theo pulled a blanket from a corner of the truck's back, offering it to him since it was mostly cold metal. Still, Liam was comfortable.

A few minutes later, Theo just listened to the tight breaths Liam was taking. He didn't show stress very well at all, and it was obvious that it was still bugging him. Liam stared at the sky and just thought, listening to the calm whoosh of wind and the couple of birds that flew around.

"We should probably talk about it," Theo said after a few more minutes when Liam didn't seem to be calming down at all.

"Yeah, no."

"Hey, you know about my thing, it's only fair."

Liam scoffed playfully, or at least as much as he could convey. "No, I found out about your thing by an unfortunate and regrettable accident. You  _asked_."

"Alright. How about I tell you more about my thing if you tell me about your's?" Theo knew that Liam was pretty much dying to know about that, so he wasn't surprised when Liam gave a sigh and turned to face him for a second.

"Fine," He sighed, going back to looking at the darkening sky. "I wasn't exactly the best student at Devenford. It's really hard for me to say, but... I've got this thing, this condition. IED. Intermittent-"

"Explosive Disorder. I'm familiar with it, yeah," Theo finished, trying to make this as easy on Liam as he could. Liam gave a ghost of a smile and his chest shook with his next breath. Theo couldn't help but want to pull him in for a hug, to try and calm him. It seemed unlike Liam to be upset, as he'd only ever seen him being positive.

"I-" Liam had to take another breath, but Theo gave him time. "There was a really bad day awhile back, almost a year ago, actually. I was already upset because my parents were fighting, and I was having trouble in fucking science, because as you know, I suck at science," He said, starting to ramble.

"I don't think you suck at science," Theo protested.

"Well, Theo, I sucked at science in sophomore year. We had passing times, and we'd go into a classroom and get our tests back and stuff. And I got my science exam grade back, and I bombed that shit, and I got so mad," Liam sounded embarrassed, like he was trying to repress the memory. "I didn't mean to, it was just a rough week and I couldn't catch myself in time, but I grabbed the chair and I threw it down the row. I'm literally the reason they have the chairs attached to the desks now."

"And you got in trouble?"

"No, actually. It was what happened after that. They let me off kind of easy for the chair thing, but the coach suspended me from playing for the rest of the season because of the behavior and the math thing." He wasn't sure how to word the next thing, so he decided to just say it. "So I took a bat to his car. Right in the parking lot."

"Oh, wow," Theo breathed, and Liam was amused in the worst way at the little hint of impressed admiration he had in his tone.

"And I've been able to ignore that for so long, but then Brett came back, and he ruined it all."

Liam was still mildly uncomfortable, but it was still a weirdly nice feeling to have talked to Theo. He seemed to understand what he was going through.

"I feel like there's something else with Brett," Theo suggested lightly. Liam nodded, figuring it was okay to go on. He actually felt good that someone other than his therapist genuinely wanted to know the story and weren't just asking for a conversation starter or something to entertain them. It wasn't, "Hey, don't you have anger issues or something?"

"I, uh," Liam stuttered, and it was apparent that this part wasn't any easier than the others.

"It's okay, you can tell me. I won't judge you, Li." The nickname slipped out without him even processing it first. Liam heard it and smiled for a split second, but went on.

"One of my teammates started a kind of joke that I had a thing for him, which I didn't, so he kept bothering me about it for a long time. It was all joking, not serious or anything, but he could tell I didn't really like it. When I threw the chair, it was kind of in his direction, and I think he thought I tossed it at him on purpose because he made the jokes. Basically, he hated me from then on because he thought I was some homophobic prick who threw furniture at him because he had joked about us dating, and then despised me when I destroyed the car."

"Damn, Liam. Breaking hearts and car windows," Theo laughed, and Liam made a noise of protest and awkwardness.

"Okay, for your information, I never broke anybody's heart, I just broke the chair. And the car. That bitch was gone, oh my god," He groaned the last part. "Those were not my prime days, and now Brett's coming back to bite me." Liam paused, thinking of his next words as he remembered what Theo had done for him in class. "Thank you."

"For what?" Theo asked, seriously unaware of what there was to be thanked for.

"For taking me out here, for standing up for me in class. I know Brett was flirting with Lana and all, but it was still nice. I appreciate it."

"No problem."

It was starting to get dark and Liam considered looking over at the lights, but Theo and he were both laying in the bed of the truck and it felt wrong to get up. He was unusually comfortable for it being a metal tray he was laying on, a thin blanket covering the two of them, but he still felt like he belonged there. It was quiet as they looked up at the darkening sky, even though it was only about four o'clock.

"Jules is my cousin," Theo said suddenly, and Liam was confused for a second before remembering. "It's really just been me and him for awhile at the scrapyard."

"You...don't...have..." Liam stuttered, but Theo shook his head, resting it on one of his arms.

"No, it's okay, I want to talk about it, actually," Theo admitted. He'd never told anyone besides Lana the full extent of his situation, but that didn't count, since she was a key part of it. "Julian is only a few years older than me, he's twenty-four and I'm eighteen. My parents are somewhere in Maine around now, but I haven't heard from them in years, and Jules' dad used to stay 'round, but he left when I was sixteen."

"How long has it been this way?" Liam asked softly, but Theo didn't show any signs of being upset.

"Since I was fourteen. Parents left me with basically nothing, so Lana gives me money."

"That's what all the cash is?"

"Yep. I wish I didn't have to take it from her, and I have no idea where the hell she comes up with all of it. It sucks to be doing it still, it makes me feel trapped."

"At least she supports you on something," Liam said lamely since he didn't know about the Lana side of the story.

"Barely. You know, I loved her in the beginning, but I don't think she ever did. She was using me to get back at Hayden, since she's still in love with her. Don't quote me on that," He specified at the end, and Liam nodded. "Our relationship was doomed from the start. I broke up with her."

"Wait, are you serious? Was that, like, recent?" Liam asked, confused.

"It was last week. I'm still pretending to be with her. I need the money."

Liam noticed how Theo talked about his issues like it was normal, and it hit hard that to him, this was every day. While Liam had had to keep his own secret, Theo's involved a bunch of other people.

"If you ever need to come out here again," Theo said quietly, turning his head to look at Liam. "You can just say a code word... Cliff. Let's say cliff. Not very creative, I know, but it's still something."

The two of them talked for hours, about anything and anything at all. Liam talked about his family and his new baby brother or sister that would be coming soon, and Theo talked about the stupid stuff Jules did. Whatever they were saying, they were completely wrapped up in their environment and each other.

Liam wondered if Theo had ever taken anyone else out here, since it seemed like he wouldn't usually share this with something. The thought warmed his heart in a way he didn't expect, and he checked his watch to see just how long Theo had allowed him into this space without consequence.

"Oh, damn!" Liam gasped, sitting up. It was only about a half hour before they had to get to the lacrosse fields to prepare for the game. He hadn't even gone home yet, so his parents were probably wondering where the hell he had been. "We have to go!"

Theo looked at the time on his phone and was the next one to jump up, getting out of the bed of the truck and speeding towards the drivers side door. "Get in!" He yelled, and Liam followed, the two of them hurtling off into the distance, Liam now more ready ever to play against Devenford after the supportive Theo had come into place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this back in January or early February of 2019, being one of my first chapters to reach over 4000 words.


	8. Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam starts to fall, and Theo isn't quite sure what he's feeling.

Liam had forgotten what winning felt like, so as he watched Brett and the rest of the Devenford Prep team limp tiredly off the field, it felt particularly sweet. It wasn't that he didn't expect to win, since there were some really good players on Beacon Hills' team, but it was a rush of pride that he hadn't realized he missed so dearly.

He looked around at all his teammates, dressed in the maroon that now stood for the first win of the season. While the crowd was cheering and so were the players, he was looking for that one in particular over all the noise. He couldn't find him.

"Liam!" Theo called from behind him, a wide smile on his face like Liam had never, ever seen before. Maybe he had seen the older boy smile before, but this was different in every way. He could see Theo's white teeth and the new glint in his green eyes, one of satisfaction and...dare he say, pride. "You did so good out there!" He praised, walking towards him once he saw Liam there, putting his hands on Liam's biceps. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Theo up close, all sweaty and cold from playing the game, but still so beautiful. There was something about that smile that got to him in a way no one had ever done.

Liam laughed breathlessly in response, the feeling rushing over him in a wave that Theo was  _proud_  of him. Liam never would have guessed that at one point Theo had hated him by the way he was with him now, and he was ready to fall. Fall for not just the idea of Theo Raeken, but all of him, the flaws and the issues, because as far as Liam could care, he was so much more than what everyone said. "Thank you," He wavered, not sure what was coming over him, but deciding he liked it.

A million thoughts were running through Theo's head as he looked at Liam, but this time, he wasn't worried about them like he was when he noticed how cute Liam looked. Now, he could gaze at the face in front of him and feel nothing but adoration, an unknown and warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. It had never been that way before Liam showed up and screwed up his secret, but was he upset anymore?

Absolutely not.

As they stood there, Theo's smile didn't fade and it didn't look like it was on it's way until someone interrupted them. "Liam?" A different voice said from in front of them, and Liam's mouth went dry. There was his mother and David, looking at him with a mix of happiness but also anxiety. "Oh, god, I was wondering where you were."

Jenna was a little smaller than her son, but she pulled him in for a hug and David rubbed his back, and Theo found himself feeling nice in the weirdest way. Seeing Liam with his family was so out of the ordinary, and it hurt that he hadn't seen a functional family in a long time. "Where were you? You can't scare me like that, you have to text!" Jenna scolded lightly, exasperated. Liam looked incredibly guilty as he stuttered out for a response, wondering what to say. He never really did anything like that, so it was new to be apologizing for something as important as texting his mom. "I, uh-" He started, but Theo decided to step in.

"I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar," Theo started, but Liam shook his head.

"Dr. and Mrs. Geyer," He said under his breath, and Theo nodded and corrected himself.

"Sorry, Dr. and Mrs. Geyer. It's my fault Liam wasn't back before the game. He was having a little bit of a rough day at school and I took him somewhere to calm down for awhile." He put on a small grin, hoping he wasn't making anything worse as he put a hand on Liam's shoulder. Liam smiled up at him appreciatively, and Jenna and David looked at each other once while the boys weren't looking, doing that sort of parent silent conversation.

_Did he just-?_  David thought with a flick of his eyebrow towards his wife.

_Are they-?_  Jenna said with her eyes widening the slightest bit.

_What?_

"Mom, David, this is Theo," Liam said, motioning towards the boy next to him. He'd since taken his hand off Liam's shoulder, but he didn't want to. "We're working on a science project together, he's kind of been helping me with school." That wasn't entirely a lie, so Liam didn't feel bad about it, and his parents nodded in acknowledgement. They had a weird look on their faces but Liam didn't think about it too much, and Theo, having not had parents, wasn't aware that there  _was_  a look.

"Good to meet you Theo," David said, putting out a hand for Theo to shake. Although Theo didn't have a lot of experience with older adults, he tried to make himself seem as sincere as he felt, but luckily, David didn't see past it. "I'm David, Liam's stepdad. Thanks for helping Liam. He gets a little overwhelmed sometimes."

Liam once again looked at Theo the same way he did just a second ago, and Jenna had a mini-freakout in her head. "Hi, I'm Jenna, Liam's mom. You seem very nice, thank you so much."

"My pleasure, Mrs. Geyer," Theo responded, keeping his voice level, not a hint of his sarcastic nature coming to the surface. Jenna scoffed.

"Oh, please. Jenna is fine," She said with a wave of her hand, and Liam raised an eyebrow. His mom usually wasn't so carefree with his friends, but he guessed Theo had already won them over just like he had Liam. "It was so nice to meet you, Theo, but we really should be going."

"Actually," Theo said, and Liam's once adoring look turned to one of curiosity. "If it's okay with you, can I borrow Liam for a little longer? We usually go out for dinner after our first win, but if that's not alright, we can always do it another time," Theo suggested, and Jenna and David pretended to consider before nodding their heads.

"That's fine. Have him back by ten, okay?" David said, and the two boys smiled at him, nodding excitedly. Jenna and David waved goodbye as they walked off towards the parking lot, and Theo turned back to Liam with a smug smile on his face.

"There's not a tradition, is there?" Liam asked knowingly, rocking back on the heels of his feet. Theo laughed and shook his head.

"Nah, but that doesn't mean we can't still go out." Liam's heart stuttered in his chest, but Theo followed up with, "You can invite your friends along. I doubt they'll want to go, but it's worth a shot," Theo said, and Liam calmed down quite a bit. If it were a date, that would be great, but Liam was still good with going out to dinner with friends if it included Theo in the mix.

"Sure, I'll ask." Liam left Theo's side for the first time to walk off towards his friends. Hayden, Tracy, Mason, and Corey were all getting a picture taken by the yearbook committee when Liam came over, and Tracy pulled him into the shot when she noticed him there. "Hey, stranger!" She greeted happily, since she hadn't seen Liam since that morning. "Good job out there, you and Corey killed it!"

"Thanks, Trace." Liam wasn't sure how to pose his question, and he looked back at Theo, who was pretending to be casually drinking from his water bottle. It was one of the squeezy ones that you put gatorade in, and he aimed at his mouth and promptly realized it was the wrong side when a jet of blue liquid shot out of the other side. Idiot. "So, Uh, I'm going to get some food with Theo, if any of you want to join."

Tracy at least tried to seem polite about it, but Hayden's smile faltered. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I can't tonight," Hayden said, trying to keep her composure. She still was nervous about Theo, so she didn't want to go. "Me and Tracy are going to see a movie." It was a lie, but she didn't particularly feel bad about it. Theo still creeped her out, and that was a good enough excuse. Corey, however, nodded.

"Sure, me and Mason will go with you," He said happily, willing to take a chance on Theo. Mason's eyes widened a little and he smacked his boyfriend on the arm.

"Dude, what?" He hissed, and Liam smirked as Corey started trying to convince him. Liam walked back over to Theo, who had recovered from spraying gatorade everywhere and was now waiting for him.

"Well?" Theo asked, an amused look on his face at Corey and Mason who were trailing close behind Liam. "They coming?"

"Just us, no Hayden and Tracy," Mason said, still hesitant. Corey was lucky he loved him.

After they got cleaned up and back into their normal clothes, they took Theo's truck, Theo hiding all his stuff in the back so no one would see the blankets. He drove them to a little diner off of a main road called the Green Heron, pulling into the parking lot without hesitation like he'd been there a lot.

Turns out, he had. He walked in and smiled at one of the guys behind the counter. "Hey, Camilo!" He called, waving a hand to the guy, who waved back and came out. "You still on with your shift?"

"For you? Sure!" Camilo said jokingly in a thick accent, and patted Theo on the back like they were old friends.

"Guys, this is Camilo, one of my cousins' friends. Camilo, this is Liam, Mason, and Corey," Theo explained, motioning to each one. Camilo was significantly older than Theo, but he didn't seem phased by any of that.

"Ah. Alright, sit down, sit down!" Camilo encouraged, waving them over to a table. Liam and Theo sat on one side while Mason and Corey took the other, all picking up a menu and looking over it.

Next to him, Liam noticed that Theo's leg was shaking nervously. His foot bounced on the floor, his shoe never leaving the ground but his heel going up and down rapidly. He could almost feel it through the floor if he was paying enough attention. He looked up at Theo with concern in his eyes, who looked back and realized what he was doing. Though there were no words spoken, Liam noticed the shaking stop.

The diner served all sorts of food, and Liam decided on something from the breakfast menu. You can never go wrong with a good diner breakfast, and that was a key rule of thumb that Liam followed. Camilo came back to take their orders and rushed into the kitchen.

When the food came out to the table, it filled the area of the restaurant with the aroma of sweet waffles and pancakes. Everyone else had decided to go with Liam's idea to have breakfast for dinner, so as the array of foods was laid out on the table, they all looked around excitedly. Theo took a bite of the waffles he ordered, a look on his face after that screamed heaven. "Damn, Camilo!" He exclaimed. "'You change the recipe or something?"

Camilo beamed and nodded. "Just a little bit more cinnamon in the batter. It's good?" He asked, and Theo nodded enthusiastically. Theo was one of Camilo's favorite customers since he was so nice to him, so it was always a win to make him happy.

"Cam, if you keep doing stuff like this, you're gonna ruin me for the healthy stuff," Theo joked, and Liam hid a grin by looking down at the table. It was different seeing Theo be friendly with someone else, since at school he was reserved to acquaintances. Seeing him being naturally nice was a good treat.

"I keep reminding you, we have salad," Camilo scolded as he went back to the kitchen, leaving the four boys to enjoy their meals. Theo notice that Liam still had a look on his face as he ate, and the side of Theo's mouth quirked up a little.

"What?" He asked, amused by the look on Liam's face and the light blush that just spread across his nose. He really was cute, and he was noticing it more and more every day. Liam looked up in surprise and Mason and Corey just watched on, wondering mutually what happened.

"Nothing?" Liam replied with a questioning tone, taking a bite of his pancakes and looking away. Mason smirked but knocked it off when Theo was about to catch him.

Theo's leg was shaking a little again, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been before. Had he done that before now? Liam tried to think about the times he saw him last, but he couldn't remember any of it. Even if Theo was usually so smooth and suave about talking to people, he was nervous. That was proven when Theo reached for his water and instead knocked the entire glass down, trying to catch it as it went but only succeeding in getting even more of it on himself. "Shit-" He gasped and Liam jumped as the water went down, some spilling on the floor, some on the chair, and the rest soaking Theo's clothes.

"Oh, god," Liam laughed as he went to grab napkins, and Mason and Corey noticed just how fast he had hopped up to help. He pushed his own chair out of the way and started trying to get some of the water off the floor and chair while Theo cleaned himself up, his face showing an embarrassed grimace. He just couldn't catch a break today with spilling stuff. Maybe he just wasn't good at drinking in general.

Liam helped Theo wipe up the chair, but little drops of water were still running down Theo's arm from where he'd tried to catch the cup. Without thinking much about it, he held his wrist and helped him dry his arm off, ignoring the choking noise that accidentally came from Mason's throat at the sight. Mason looked at his boyfriend with his eyes widened, somewhat of a matching glance that Jenna and David had shared, and Corey bit back laughter. Looking back at Theo and Liam, he almost burst out laughing. Theo hadn't been red from spilling his water, but he sure as hell was now as Liam had one hand on his shirt and the other one still on his wrist. Theo could do things like put his hands on Liam's shoulders without issue, but just like it had been the first time in the science room, being touched back made him react way stronger than he expected.

Liam eventually stopped trying to dry Theo off once he felt his own face heating up, realizing that was a little weird. Sure, he and Theo were friends now, but that was kind of overboard. Theo cleared his throat as Liam sat back down in his seat. Luckily, no one said anything, no matter how physically painful it was for Maon not to. Liam could quite literally see him straining to stop himself from making noise, and Corey kicked his boyfriend's leg under the table.

They ate the rest of their meals in a comfortable mix of quietness and conversation, falling into a rhythm of talking about the little things in the game. Theo was particularly impressed with Liam's performance, and he let him know. He talked about how Liam ran with the assist that lead to the winning goal, and Liam was happy with the praise, but didn't know how to respond to anything. "Well, I-" Liam tried to interject, but Theo wouldn't let him.

"Uh, no, Liam, it took me at least five weeks to get an assist for the first time, and it wasn't the winning shot."

"You  _scored_  the winning shot!" Liam protested, laughter evident in his voice. They talked about each other like Mason and Corey hadn't literally been there, but that only lead to the two of them looking at each other knowingly again.

By the time they left the diner, Liam was walking on air, and even though Theo's clothes were still half-wet from the water incident, they felt perfect. Mason and Corey decided to take a walk back to the school to get Mason's car, leaving Theo and Liam alone.

In the silence of Theo's truck, Liam looked to him with the blue eyes Theo had been admiring for hours. "Thank you, Theo. Again. For everything." Theo said nothing in response, but his fond smile met Liam's eyes and there was no need for words. He was sad to get out of Theo's truck and go into his house when they pulled up, but he knew he'd see Theo again on Monday, bright and early.

He walked him to the door and Liam smiled up at him, and Theo's heart did something weird that he wasn't expecting it to. It never did that around Lana or any of his past lovers, but now that the light was refracting off of Liam's irises in the most beautiful way, his heart was speeding up. And that scared him. "I-I'll see you on Monday," He stuttered. Theo Raeken didn't  _stutter_. Liam was really doing things to him.

Liam went inside with his brain in a rush of thoughts, heading upstairs to his room, laying on the bed and just staring at the ceiling for a good few minutes. That was all he needed and all he could do: just think.

\---

**Hayden's left leg Groupchat**

Named by Tracy

_Tracy_Stewart_09, Romeroz, Mase.Hewitt, CoreyBryant, and Dunbae_

**Mason**  - Hey Guys

**Group Change: Mase_Hewitt has removed Dunbae from the chat**

**Group Change: Mase_Hewitt has changed the chat name: BIG OOF**

**Tracy**  - This doesn't look good

**Corey**  - You couldn't have been more blunt about that could you ???

**Mason**  - Sorry

**Hayden**  - Wait whats going on

**Mason**  - It had to be done. There is a problem

**Corey**  - I don't think its a problem

**Corey**  - I think its cute

**Tracy**  - Im guessing Liam is involved

**Mason**  - LIAM HAS FEELINGS FOR THEO LMAOOOO

**Hayden**  - sisjjd what????

**Corey**  - Guys dont judge damn

**Hayden**  - how do you know

**Corey**  - Theo knocked over his water cup and Liam helped him clean it by like literally wiping him with napkins, if thats not love idk what is

**Tracy**  - Yeah hayden, you better spill water on me smh

**Hayden**  - THat's nOt the PoinT tRacY

**Hayden**  - So he spilled water

**Mason**  - No here's the thing.

**Mason**  - Theo blushed.

**Hayden**  - !!!!!! WHAT !!!!!!!!!!

**Tracy**  - Youre KIDDING SJUIGEJBKLIFHOUGY

**Mason**  - Theo fucking raeken blushed. You ever see that dude smile?

**Hayden**  - No

**Corey**  - He was all smiles with Liam. it was like we weren't there

**Mason**  - Liam has to have some feelings for Theo and they're not one sided if you get what I mean 👀

**Corey**  - Theo is usually like this

**Corey**  - 🙄☠🍤

**Corey**  - I didnt mean to add the shrimp wait

**Corey**  - Anyway

**Corey**  - Theo was like this istg

**Corey**  - ❤💛❤💙💛💚💜💛🖤💙💜💓💞💙💜💗💞🧡💜💞💞💓💗💞💕💗💘💝💝💟❤🧡💙💛💜🧡

**Hayden**  - Insightful. So what are we gonna do about it ?

**Mason**  - watch out for Liam and make sure he's ok, but I'm not getting involved. I wanna see where it goes

**Tracy**  - I'm gonna feel bad for saying it but me too

**Hayden**  - I guess I agree. Maybe Theo isn't that bad

**Corey**  - Give it a chance guys. Now, take your screenshots of the chat and tell me when your're done

**Hayden**  - Done

**Tracy**  - Got em

**Mason**  - Done

**Corey**  - OK. Now let's all delete our messages and pretend this never happened, ok? Liam can't know

_[40 messages were deleted. Show this notification?] yes_ _no_

**Group change: Mase_Hewitt has changed the chat name: Corey's Rude**

**Corey**  - HEY

**Group change: Mase_Hewitt has added Dunbae to the chat**


	9. Notes: February 1, 2019

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Notes from Liam's therapist

Notes: Liam Dunbar, February 1st, 2019

Patient Name: Dunbar, Liam Eugene

Condition: Intermittent Explosive Disorder, Mild Anxiety

Date: 2/1/19  
  


Notes:

When Liam walked into the appointment, he seemed more anxious than usual. He reports being angry again about a lacrosse game with an altercation with old classmates, but does not present as upset. When asked about it, Liam explained he has been receiving help from a new classmate, Theo. I did not ask, but Liam trusts Theo enough to tell him the extent of his IED and seems to have feelings for him in more than a friendship type of way. Big progress.  
  


Other Observations:

Smiles when talking about Theo more than his other friends

Fidgets less when Theo is brought up

Is anxious about his next lacrosse game, but less than previously displayed in Devenford Prep


	10. Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something feels off with Theo, and he finds that he's all alone when he suddenly knows what it is.

ver since that night in the diner, things had been good between Theo and Liam. They hung out between classes sometimes and occasionally outside of school, and both were happy about it. They were starting to get to know each other more and more, and they found that they didn't want to stop. Liam didn't particularly  _need_  to know that Theo disliked zucchini, but Liam felt like it was important anyway.

Today, though, things were different. It had been about a week since they went out with Mason and Corey, and while Liam could often be found walking with Theo in the halls, there was something off. Theo wasn't sure what it was, but it was like there was a grey spot clouding around him, something that made his entire sense of being feel weird. He walked with consciousness of his every step, being able to feel each and every sensation in his feet as they hit the floor. His limbs were both weak and restless at the same time, and everything seemed very...dull. Liam noticed that Theo was different that day, but didn't ask why. He figured it was a Lana thing or something with Jules, since he knew Theo had been having some trouble with his cousin lately. It was a good thing he didn't, since Theo wouldn't know how to answer.

"Are you alright?" Liam asked, though, and Theo's heart skipped a beat. He didn't  _know_ , since obviously something was wrong, but he didn't know what.

"Fine," Theo said shortly, feeling like if he said anything more he'd force himself to think about it too much. That was the last thing Theo wanted to do; he had felt anxiety too much, and he fought desperately to keep unnecessary grievances away.

"You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?" Liam prodded, his eyes filled with sympathy for Theo.

He didn't know what made him do it. Maybe it was the sympathetic look that stressed him out, that with a mix of the state of confusion he was in, but Theo grew irritable easily. He felt like something had already happened that he should be upset about, a deepset feeling in the pit of his stomach starting to nip at him, but he wanted to know what. "Yeah, I know, can we stop talking about it now?" Theo snapped, his hand jerking upwards in a display of annoyance. His voice was no longer casually tired. Now, it was rough and annoyed, and Liam reeled back.

Theo immediately regretted raising his voice at Liam when he saw Liam's face, the hurt expression jumping across his face before disappearing. He physically recoiled at the sudden outburst, and Theo's face softened, panic setting in. "I'm sorry," He breathed, looking horrified at himself. Liam swallowed at nothing, nodding slowly. "I didn't mean to, I don't know what's going on."

"It's okay," Liam whispered, rubbing the back of Theo's shoulder as they walked on. "I understand. Just a rough day, we all have them."

"Yeah, I just-I wish I knew why," Theo sighed. "There's just this feeling I have, and I can't get rid of it."

Liam seemed to proceed with caution after that, and Theo felt incredibly guilty about it. According to what he'd heard about Liam's time at Devenford Prep, he wasn't treated right at all by his friends. Theo wasn't really sure what being friends with someone meant, but he was pretty certain that it didn't include yelling at each other. He didn't want to be one of the people who made Liam feel bad. "Liam, I'm really sorry," He said again, but Liam brushed it off like it was nothing and kept walking by his side.

"I said it's fine," Liam insisted, but Theo was unconvinced. He felt worse.

\---

An hour later, Theo couldn't take it anymore and left class, miserable, even though he liked working with Liam on the project. He took the lav pass without a word, didn't sign out of the room, and walked out. Mrs. Alvarez looked from the door to Liam, confused. A concerned wave washed over Liam, and he pushed away from the desk to follow.

He didn't bother pushing in his chair as he got up, and Mrs. Alvarez made no attempt to protest Liam leaving. His classmates stared at him, especially Hayden, Mason, Corey, and Tracy, but Liam didn't care as he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. The hall was devoid of any activity except for the locker room door closing. Liam sprinted towards it and went in before it could close all the way, hearing footsteps inside. If Theo wasn't okay, he didn't want him to be alone.

He found him in one of the stalls, the door still open. "Theo, Jesus!" he gasped, seeing he was on the floor in front of the toilet. Theo said nothing and breathed heavily, but he was shaking. The smaller of the two dropped to his knees beside Theo, trying to see if he was sick. He wasn't. "Hey, hey," he said soothingly, and Theo felt himself start to release a tension he didn't know he was holding. He hated seeing Theo so on edge.

"The feeling won't go away," Theo groaned in frustration, and startled Liam by retching against his own body's reactions. He couldn't stand throwing up, but i there was a chance to get rid of the anxiety in his stomach, he'd do anything. Theo felt Liam's hand on his back, rubbing small circles in an attempt to comfort him.

_"What would I do without him?"_  Theo thought to himself. Without Liam, he'd be on the dirty floor all alone, since in all truth, no one else would have come so quickly to check on him. Everyone else would have left him to shake and cough on his own.

He got up and brushed himself off, walking back to class with Liam. It was a better alternative than the smell of toilet water.

\---

Lacrosse practice came around and Theo was still tired and sick-feeling. Even though Liam told him it was unhealthy, he kept trying to make himself throw up, but nothing happened. He didn't eat lunch and didn't dare drink any water, fearing a worse stomach ache, leaving him weak.

"Raeken, McCall! You're not captains to stand around!" Finstock yelled, and Theo rolled his eyes. He trudged out onto the field, wishing to be in his truck and driving back to the scrapyard. He was in no mood to play.

As the players got into position, Theo shut his eyes tightly and opened them a few times in a last-ditch effort to focus. Even if he wasn't at his best, he still wanted to try. Coach noticed that theo wasn't playing at his prime, and since he didn't particularly  _like_  the co-captain, he called him on it. "Raeken! For god's sake, get in the game and take your head out of your ass!"

"Dude-" Theo tried to protest, growing annoyed, but he felt a harsh impact collide with his chest and fell to the grass. "Fuck!" He hissed. He felt something in his wrist crack under the weight of his body, since whoever had run into him had knocked him on his stomach. A soft groan came from his mouth as he felt it. "What the hell, Greenburg?"

"Alright, alright," Coach said as people started to gather around their fallen captain, waving his arms to get people out of the way. Theo turned on his back so he could see the damage, his wrist looking red and swollen already. "Why don't we call it a day. Can somebody take him to the nurse?"

Liam raised a hand and motioned towards the building, helping Theo off the ground by his good wrist. "Really bad day, huh?" Liam asked, another sympathetic look on his face. This time, Theo didn't get mad. He just shrugged and walked on, nursing his wrist in his other hand. This was  _really_  what he needed right now, an injury in the beginning of the season on his dominant side. Anything to make this day worse, right?

Liam opened the door of the nurse's office and knocked, the nurse looking up from her desk. "Lacrosse?" She asked knowingly, but still kindly. "Come on in." Even though Theo's feet worked fine, Liam was still compelled to help him over to the plasticy cot.

The nurse wrapped his wrist in gauze, ruling that it wasn't broken, but it would definitely be sore for a few days.

"Do you need a ride home?" Liam offered, but Theo shook his head. It was a stupid question on Liam's part considering his home was his ride, but neither of them really cared enough to notice. Liam was still anxious about how bad of a day Theo was having, and Theo was too tired.

"I'll be okay, I promise," Theo said. He knew how anxious Liam was because of him. Part of him felt bad that he caused it, but another liked the different feeling he got from someone actually worrying about him. Maybe Lana did, but her concern was more about protecting her investment. To Liam, Theo was a person and a friend, and that was all he needed to be.

He drove home in silence, still sighing. He'd temporarily forgotten about the bad vibes he had all around him with the hurt ones in his wrist, but now he was starting to remember since there was nothing else to focus on.

The tires crunched over the gravelly Beacon Hills roads, the same ones he'd driven down for years, but now, it felt different just like everything else. His phone buzzed in the cup holder, startling him for a second.

Ross

Answer | Decline

Ross. What could Ross want? He knew he shouldn't be picking up his phone in the car, but if Ross was calling, he should probably answer. He pulled over into a shady spot and clicked the green button on his screen.

"Hey," He said. "What's up?

"T, it's Jules," Ross started. His voice was nowhere near as calm as Theo's, but his was about to change. Theo felt like he had been stabbed in the stomach when he heard Jules' name. "I-I'm so sorry, T, but-"

"What happened?" Theo suddenly barked into the phone, tightening his grip on the steering wheel even though his wrapped wrist was screaming out in pain. "What happened to Jules?"

"He was shot," Ross wavered. The knife in Theo's stomach twisted as his words registered, the pain settling into something of a numbness, like going into shock. "I found him in the scrapyard when I came by to check on him, Theo. He's... he's-"

Theo was for once stunned to silence. Things were falling into place just like how the ground was falling beneath his feet. The bad feeling hadn't been for nothing. "He- what?" He finally breathed, the anger in his voice now replaced by fear.

"Somebody shot him in the chest. I gotta blow town, they'll come for me next if I don't, thinking I killed him. T, You're like a brother to me, you gotta stay safe," He said frantically, forcing his words out so he could hang up.

"Ross, Ross! ROSS!" Theo yelled when he didn't answer. His voice came out in a strangled noise. "Killed?"

There was a distinct sound of silence on the other end, and Theo knew.

Julian Raeken was dead.


	11. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Liam, Theo realizes he's not alone.

Theo didn't come to school the next day, or the day after that. The metaphorical stab wounds in his stomach were still raw. He couldn't even return to the scrapyard where Ross had buried his cousin, his body six feet under without any ceremony.

Theo spent his time at the Cliff and did nothing but debate. From the minute he woke up in the morning to the minute he finally managed to drift to sleep, it was just his thoughts haunting him. He debated whether or not to go to school, or to even go back at all, if he could just get by without his diploma and never see Beacon Hills High again. Sometimes he wondered where he'd go, but he didn't leave. He never left the Cliff.

In the fits of fighting with himself, when he woke up, sometimes he wondered if the problem wasn't what happened after he woke up, but if he woke up at all. He wondered if he should just do what he had originally come to the cliff three years ago to do, jump. Forget everything. If Jules was gone, there would be no one left in the sad excuse for a family if Theo was too.

But as he neared the rocky ridge, every time, he remembered Liam. Liam was who kept him going, kept him from jumping when it was the easiest option. He so easily could put one foot off the edge and fall without anyone noticing. It wouldn't be any different to most if he were gone, but one thing and one thing only was holding him back.

If he jumped, he'd never get to see Liam's blue eyes again, or feel him touch his shoulder lightly, or hear the laugh he loved so much ever again, all of the things that had made his already bleak life better. Just two days before, Theo had wondered what he would do without Liam, and it stuck with him even in the darkest times. Even if there was no life after death, the thought of never seeing Liam again hit hard where it already hurt.

Theo wiped a tear away from his cheek with the back of his hand. He hadn't even noticed it slip out, but he had held in his tears so long already that it felt bad to let them out now. He was in the backseat of his truck, the February cold hitting his skin that was covered by a thin hoodie. His eyes were fixed on the grey roof of the truck, just thinking and sitting in silence. There wasn't much else he could do.

Dealing with loss was never Theo's strong suit. When his parents left when he was only thirteen, he hadn't cried, because the one thing his father told him every time he was upset was that boys don't cry. So as Jonathan and Marie Raeken left one night and never came back, Theo carried a kind of pain with him for years, but didn't cry. Then there was Jules' mom who died one night of an untreated disease that they couldn't afford to treat. There had been tears there, but Theo, fifteen at that point, had to bounce back. James Raeken left when Theo was sixteen, leaving his son and his nephew on their own.

But they were different. Even when his uncle left them, Theo still had Julian. Jules took care of him through everything, and even if they didn't get along the best, they had each other's backs. They were the Raekens, just Theo and Jules, the two boys who remained after the Raeken family's numbers had decimated. It was worse now that the only family Theo had died, leaving him more alone that he ever had been before. He had Liam, but Jules was his blood, blood that was probably still spilled on the dirt in the scrapyard. Theo was the last Raeken that was certain to be alive.

He was sitting up now, remembering something under the seat. He reached under it until he could feel the tiny box, just about as big as an envelope. Theo hardly ever opened this, so it was one of the least damaged things in his car. Running has fingers along the smooth papery box, he shakily took the lid off.

Inside were some small things that he kept close, which was why he didn't go through it a lot. Right now, though, he needed a reminder of his family even more. He took the box into his pocket and opened the door, heading towards the bed of the truck. It was only around three PM, but the sun was subdued by the clouds, making it seem dark and cold.

He sat in the bed of his truck, shakily opening the lid of the box. He saw the familiar gold gleam of his mom's bracelet. No matter how angry he was at her for taking off when things got too hard, he still remembered the good in her. There was a lighter that his dad had once gotten signed by a singer, and a guitar pick from when Theo used to play. Another object, a chunk of pink rose-quartz that he found was also there. In the bottom, there were some pictures.

Although he hadn't looked at everything since James Raeken left almost two years ago, it had been even longer since he'd seen the pictures. He used the quartz as a paperweight as he slowly took the first one out. It was of his parents when they were young in the eighties, at some party. He put it face-down when he had looked at it for a little bit, moving through the pictures with the memories attached feeling vague and hazy. There were pictures of him as a baby that he didn't know why he had, and others of a family dog that he sort of remembered from when he was about eight or nine.

While the pictures hurt to look at, one right in the middle made his breath stop, his thoughts suddenly ceasing. It was him and Julian as kids. Julian couldn't be any older than seven, and Theo was three, as the picture was dated 2000. The emotions came too fast to stop and suddenly Theo's walls were gone, the photograph gripped tightly to him as he shakily put the lid back on the box and pushed it aside. It had been days since Julian died, but the sight of them back then, fifteen years ago, hit him harder than anything else.

He clenched his teeth as hot tears filled his eyes and threatened to spill, but once again, he didn't let himself. Crying felt so final, like admitting that Jules was gone just like everyone else. His phone rang in his pocket and he took it out to see who it was, trying to push away the vivid flash of Ross' name across the screen. This time, it was someone better than Ross.

Liam

Answer | Decline

Right. Liam. Liam, who was probably wondering where the hell he was. He'd left without any explanation for two days when Liam knew he was starting to go down, and hadn't said anything about it. He clicked on the answer button and put his phone to his ear.

"Theo?" Liam's relieved voice said, sounding slightly panicked, slightly worried. "Thank god, are you okay?"

Theo couldn't answer honestly. "I'm fine," he lied through his teeth.

On the other end of the line, Liam could tell immediately that Theo was anything but okay. His voice was rough and exhausted, and he made the decision then and there to go and find him. Whatever was happening, he didn't need to be alone for it. He left lacrosse practice in a rush, making a half-assed excuse to the coach who was frustrated with losing all his players.

He knew exactly where Theo would be, and while he had only been there once, he knew the way. Theo would be at the cliff, where he always went when things get rough, because if Theo had ever sounded bad, it would be now. His car tires protested against the steepness of some of the roads, but Liam drove on an parked his car a few feet away from the place he remembered as the entrance. You had to go through a few trees and pass the branches to get there, but it was still accessible to those who knew what they were looking for.

Sure enough, once all of the trees were in the background and Liam could see clearly, he Theo's truck and Theo in the bed. He sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, not noticing Liam standing there. Liam's breath caught in his throat when he saw Theo's face for the first time, knowing now that it wasn't that Theo was sick or hurt; it was a different kind of hurt he was feeling.

Theo looked back at him and Liam could see the pain in his green eyes, stepping towards him cautiously but quickly, wanting to be by his side for as long as he could. He climbed into the truck bed and sat next to Theo, looking from his eyes to their surroundings. He found it better to say nothing, but he couldn't stop a sharp inhale when he noticed Theo had a picture in his hand. Liam's hand came up shakily to rest on the one Theo had on the picture, and it was as though something broke inside the taller boy. His head fell onto Liam shoulder and moved into his touch without hesitation, his hand turning the picture around again and again. Liam caught a glimpse of the writing on the back. _Theo and Julian, 2000_. "Oh," he breathed, and Theo finally let a strangled sob pass.

Liam wrapped his arms around Theo as he felt him start shaking. He rubbed Theo's back with his hand while the other one gripped his hand, never minding that Theo held on so tightly that his fingers were going numb. Cries wracked his body as Liam held him close, and he couldn't help but just let go. He trusted Liam, and just like he had always been before, he was there for him again. He gripped onto Liam's jacket and let the tears fall, knowing that Liam wouldn't judge him at all like someone else would. He was the only one he could let see him like this. A part of him knew that Liam had found out that Jules was gone, but neither said anything about it. Liam stayed quiet and let Theo fall apart in his arms, his own tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

Theo had been through so much pain in his life, and he didn't deserve any more. Liam wished that he could take some of the loss from him, make him feel better, but there was nothing he could do but stay with him. There was no problem with that, but Liam would do so much more if he could.

"God, I'm sorry," Theo choked out after a few good minutes. He lifted his head from where it was on Liam's shoulder, finding that his hoodie was all wet from where he had been crying on it. Liam shook his head and pulled Theo in closer, letting him calm on his own. Their legs were tangled up together and Liam still had his arms wrapped around Theo. He would have never described Theo's body as fragile before, but it definitely wasn't the strong and ungiving wall it seemed like.

"It's okay, you're okay," Liam whispered. Theo's spine tingled as Liam's hand snaked its way up his back and into his hair, the sense of security washing over him even more. Liam laid back in the truck, taking Theo with him to get the relaxation he so desperately needed.

For hours, Liam let him lay there for as long as he had to. He texted his mom that he was at the spot with Theo and that he'd probably be staying the night, but didn't tell her the extent of what was going on. As far as she knew, he was just hanging out as usual with his friend.

The sky darkened and the stars came out, the second source of light above the yellow ones below from the windows of Beacon Hills. A mutual silence hung in the air, but not one that was unnatural or awkward as they laid together, Theo's head on Liam's chest, Liam holding him protectively.

Theo felt his eyelids start to get heavy and Liam could hear his breathing starting to slow as he drifted off to sleep, and Theo had barely any time to realize that this was the first time in awhile that he'd been able to go without insomnia creeping up. Liam had that effect on him, and he was grateful.

_"What would I do without him?"_ He thought again. Without Liam, he'd in the winter cold in the back of his truck, probably in a fit of nightmares in a restless sleep, or worse, lying awake for hours. Without Liam, he wouldn't be able to feel safe as he fell asleep for the first time in years.

Without Liam, he wouldn't have a very important last thought before sleep took him: Without Liam, he wouldn't know what it felt like to fall when he least expected it.


	12. Returning to the Surface

J.J.R

May 6th, 1995 - February 6th, 2019

Son, Nephew, Cousin, Father, Friend

Julian Raeken was born May 6th, 1995 in Beacon Hills, California, where he grew up and grew older with his cousin Theo. He was the son of James and Stephanie Raeken, the nephew of Jonathan and Marie, and though he never knew, a father to a little girl named Rose.

Although he lived a rough life, Jules was a good soul who looked out for his family no matter what, up until the day he died. He took care of those who needed more help than he did, including Theo and anyone else who asked. Even if their relationship was rocky as Theo got older, he cared for him immensely and treated him more as a brother than a cousin. He raised Theo just to the very beginning of adulthood the best he could, and Jules' compassion and the memories they shared will stick with him for a lifetime.

Exactly two months before his 25th birthday, Julian Raeken was shot and killed in the scrapyard where he resided by a former high school enemy. His last thoughts were of his family and of the regret that he didn't get to see Theo graduate high school or live a life he never could, and before he closed his eyes for the last time, he hoped Theo could move on. Jules was buried in the scrapyard with a single flower left over his grave, buried with his mother's necklace and father's dog tags.

Rest in peace, Julian James Raeken.

 

With visions of Liam in his mind, Theo woke up that Monday morning with a determination to put on a brave face. Julian wouldn't want him to stop going to school, as it was always so important to him when he was still alive. He still hasn't been back to the scrapyard, staying at the cliff, but it was time to get up and at least go somewhere.

Liam was waiting for him when he woke up. He'd gone home to his parents that weekend but returned whenever he could, coming to comfort Theo or just offer him some company. "Good morning," Liam said. He hadn't been there when Theo fell asleep, but he was sitting next to him in the bed of the truck. He looked shivery, but he didn't mind; his priority wasn't his own body heat, it was making sure he could see Theo before he had to go to school.

Theo groaned and sat up, rubbing a hand through his hair and then one down his sore back. As nice as it was to fall asleep under the stars, sleeping in a metal tray wasn't exactly comfortable when you woke up. "Hey," he croaked. "Isn't it about time for you to go to school?"

Liam shrugged. Compared to seeing him, he didn't really care if he was late. Theo looked at the clock on his phone and got up, hopping of the truck and opening the back door. "What are you doing?" Liam asked, but his words quickly died in his throat when Theo pulled off his shirt and grabbed another one.

"I'm going," Theo said, not leaving any room for Liam to question. "I need to."

"If you're not ready, I can always bring back some of your work," Liam offered as Theo pulled on another shirt, a black sweater, but Theo shook his head.

"No, I've got to. I'll be fine."

Liam walked over and set a hand on Theo's shoulder, and he felt Theo pause his movement and take a breath. "Are you sure?"

Truth was, he had been sure of very little since he got the phone call from Ross. Up until yesterday, he hadn't been sure that he'd return to school ever, but he felt that it was better than staying in his truck all day in the cold. Beacon Hills High at least had heating and Liam, all the more reasons to go. "Yeah," He said quietly, heading towards the front of his car. "Do you want a ride, or are you taking yours?"

Liam wanted to go with Theo, but it was stupid to leave his car at the cliff just so he would have to go back and get it. "I'll take mine. And Theo-" He stopped Theo from opening his car door by reaching out towards his arm. "If you need me for anything, anything at all, text me."

With those words in mind, Theo gave a weak smile and nodded to Liam, getting into the driver's seat and starting the truck. They drove to school in seperate cars, but still managed to stay together for the most part.

Theo was hit with a pang of anxiety when he stepped out of his truck and looked at the school building, knowing that he had a lot waiting for him inside. Some were staring at him, since even though Theo didn't say much at school, his presence never went unnoticed. Liam made his way to Theo's side and motioned towards the doors, helping Theo out of his frozen state.

"Maybe we should go to the office and say that..." Liam didn't finish the sentence, the older boy already knowing what Liam would say. "Not that you're in the truck, but they might go easier on you if your teachers know."

Theo nodded in agreement and let Liam lead him to the office. It was like Theo was the new kid who felt unnatural there, and not Liam. Liam rapped on the door as he walked into the main office, it being rather small for the size of the school. The secretary looked up at the two boys, her eyes lighting with curiosity when she saw Theo there.

The taller boy stood slightly behind Liam, and Liam understood without any words that Theo was hoping Liam could do most of the talking. "Hey, Ms. Jasmine," He started, leaning on the counter. He knew Ms. J was chill, so she wouldn't mind. "We just wanted to come down to explain why Theo was out these last two days. His cousin-" Liam could hear Theo audibly swallow behind him, pain in his eyes and his throat constricting. "His cousin passed on Wednesday," he finished softly, and Ms. Jasmine looked immediately upset.

"Oh no, honey, I'm so sorry," Ms. Jasmine whispered, and Theo hung his head. In all of his years of living in Beacon Hills where people were generally caring, he still never had people feeling sorry for him. It was new and foreign, and a little overwhelming. "What do you want me to do? I can call your teachers and tell them what happened to spare you of telling them, they can give you a break for a little while."

"Thanks," Theo muttered softly, and Liam's heart skipped. Theo never sounded so quietly upset before, and it was messing with him.

Liam hoped that things would get better for Theo, and he was trying to do everything in his power to make it work. Which is why he talked to his parents all that weekend about something unbeknownst to Theo.

\---

The Geyers weren't ever low on money, which is why they had things like extra rooms in their house. It was just Jenna, David, and Liam, so the two guest bedrooms plus the office were a little much, but as Liam gathered his parents into the family room for a talk, he was glad they had them.

One of the guest rooms was turning into a nursery for the little brother or sister that would be coming in a few weeks that Jenna was currently carrying. That made this whole ordeal harder, since they were already preparing for a new person in the house, one that required lots of attention. Liam felt bad about asking them to provide a place for someone else  _now_  of all times. Still, the pity he had for Theo living in his truck by the cliff trumped his guilt of asking for a large favor.

"What do you have us down here for?" David asked, looking concerned. Last time they had a family meeting was when Jenna told Liam she was pregnant, so it had been about eight months. 

"I know it's a really bad time right now, with the baby and all, but..." Liam said quickly, forcing his words out so he could get the point across without rambling. He tended to do that when something was important. "But you guys remember Theo, right?" He waited until both of them nodded. Liam drew in a deep breath. "Well, he's homeless right now. He used to live with his cousin Julian, but he died on Wednesday and he's got nowhere to go. And I completely understand if we can't do anything about it because of all that's going on at the moment and I haven't told him anything yet so it's not like he'll be disappointed if we can't-"

"L, slow down," Jenna said, feeling bad for the boy. "Theo's homeless?"

"Y-yeah."

Jenna looked at David for a few seconds, doing one of their silent talks. Liam could tell that they were thinking of the baby when Jenna's hand came to rest on her bloated stomach. That was the main reason why Liam was worried this would fall through. They'd obviously put their children above one of their friends, especially when it came to overrunning the house.

"If you don't mind, we're going to talk about this a little more," Jenna said, nodding towards the staircase. That was where they always went to talk away from Liam, in their room.

"Right, yeah, no problem," Liam stuttered.

While he waited for Jenna and David to talk, he tried to do everything to distract himself. He played games on his phone, scrolled through Instagram, and even resorted to twiddling his thumbs for a good seven and a half minutes (he counted) but nothing worked. He was anxious until the moment Jenna and David stepped back into the family room, looking promising.

"We don't have anything set up in the guest room yet, so you'll have to bare with us, and we'll go grocery shopping on Tuesday to get more food, but Theo can stay with us for as long as he needs to," Jenna said, her tone kind but also determined.

"Wait, really?" Liam's eyes widened and a smile spread across his face. Even though he left out that he had a serious crush on Theo, he hadn't expected his parents to actually agree. "Oh my god, thank you!" He rushed up to them and hugged them, and ran up to his room. He had to clean it before Theo got there tomorrow.

\---

Liam watched Theo as he walked to his first class, wishing he could stay with him. Theo was never the type to seem like he needed protection, but seeing him this way didn't give the same vibe. While Theo usually kept himself looking like he wasn't any different from the others (except for being far more attractive than most) but today he looked pale and weak. 

Without thinking about it, Liam reached out and touched Theo's arm, letting out a startled gasp when Theo flinched. Hard. "Hey, I'm sorry," Liam breathed, guilt spreading over him for scaring him like that. 

"It's fine, I just didn't expect it." Liam decided not to touch Theo again for awhile.

Theo arrived at his class and took a shaky breath, turning to Liam. He gave a sad smile and nodded once, signifying that it was okay for Liam to go. 

"Text me, okay?" Liam said again, softly so no one would hear. Theo's heart beat a little harder in his chest, and he willed it to stop. 

Theo had never had anyone specific that cared about him apart from Jules, and he didn't know what to do. Especially because the words of sympathy were from Liam, the boy he found himself caring more and more about every day. The cuts of loss were still open, but they were starting to heal. The older boy knew it was because of Liam.

Liam checked in on him around halfway through the class, and Theo's heart fluttered again. 

 **Li** : how are you doing?

 **Theo:**  I'm fine, why

 **Li** : just checking up. see you later.

Theo smiled to himself as he sent his text back and put his phone away. Liam was only a few classrooms away, but the younger boy was still anxious for him.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason Liam was on edge. Mason and the rest were not so subtly trying to bring up Theo at every turn, which he was dodging. There was also the issue of asking Theo about his offer. Today was the day he was planning on it, and he wasn't sure what Theo would say.

He wondered in the back of his mind if Theo would even take the offer. Liam would like to consider Theo a friend, but he was pretty sure Theo didn't think of him as one. They were close now, sure, but Liam seemed to feel that they weren't. He'd been that way for awhile ever since his old friends in Devenford blew him off.

\---

Liam normally wouldn't have ditched his usual table, but when he saw Theo was lurking around nervously, he had to intervene. Theo was just standing in the doorway of the cafeteria, looking like he was debating coming in or not. The lacrosse team didn't seem to notice that one of their Co-Captains was missing, since McCall was keeping them entertained enough, but the group at Liam's table definitely did. "What's Raeken up to?" Tracy wondered aloud, and Liam's eyes snapped up from his sandwich to where Tracy was looking.

"Liam?" Corey asked, surprised at his sudden reaction. "Do you know what's going on?

Liam didn't offer an answer as he pushed up away from the table, taking his bag with him. "Liam, wha-" Mason called, but Liam was already walking towards Theo. 

Theo bit his lip when Liam approached him, something Liam tried not to think about, because seriously,  _get your head out of the gutter!_  "Hey, why aren't you in there?" Liam asked, though he knew the answer.

"I don't want to talk to anybody. They're all gonna ask me where I've been," Theo said shortly. It was like how he used to talk to Liam before, but he could now hear the emotion that was threatening to break through. "I'm not hungry, anyway."

Liam didn't want to go all Mama-Bear on him, but that needed to happen. "You have to eat something, come on."

"Liam, no-" Theo sighed, but let Liam yank him along. He had apparently forgotten about his idea of not touching Theo, he had him by the wrist. No one looked at him like he was expecting them to, and Theo was relieved. He pulled them over to an empty table, sitting across from Theo and releasing his wrist. It tingled from where Liam's fingers had touched it, but he chose to ignore it.

Liam pulled out the remaining half of his sandwich that he didn't bite and pushed it towards Theo, looking at him expectantly. Theo shook his head. "No, I'm not hungry," He repeated, but Liam didn't seem like he was taking no for an answer. "I'm nauseous, I can't eat."

"You're nauseous because I haven't seen you eat in what, four days? I watched you swallow some gum yesterday, but that's all I know."

Theo sighed, knowing Liam was right and wouldn't stop bothering him until he ate the stupid sandwich. He took a bite and expected his stomach to revolt, and it did for a second, growling and making him stop and take a smaller bite. He didn't really care what was in it, but by the time he allowed himself to actually eat, he liked it. "Damn, Liam, you make a good sandwich," he admitted, and Liam laughed.

"My mom makes good sandwiches, actually. By the way," Liam started. He wasn't going to make his offer right then, but he figured he'd do it once Theo was actually at the house. "Do you want to come over after school? There's no lacrosse practice, so we'll have more time to just relax for awhile."

Theo thought for a second. It wasn't like he had anywhere to go, and Liam's house seemed like a way better alternative to the cold. Even if the cliff was supposed to be his happy place, it wasn't nearly as special if he was stuck there. "Sure," he agreed, and Liam smiled.

And damn, did Theo love that smile.

\---

"Which way do I turn?" The asked over the phone. He had been trying to follow Liam's car in his truck to his house, but some idiot had pulled out in front of him and he couldn't see anymore. "I'm on, uh, 33rd street."

"Left at the stop sign."

The idiot turned a different way and Theo could see Liam's car again. "Alright, I see you now. Idiot left."

"We gonna keep referring to him as 'Idiot?'"

"As long as people keep pulling out in front of me, they're idiots."

Liam chuckled at Theo's cute frustration as he turned another corner, making sure Theo was still following close behind. "Right up here." Liam hung up and pulled into his driveway, and Theo looked around.

Liam's house was big, but he should've expected it considering his stepdad was some kind of doctor. "Wow," Theo still couldn't help but mouth to himself. It wasn't a mansion or anything, but he doubted that any of his once-large family could afford a place like this. 

Theo got out of his truck that looked pretty beat up in contrast to the rest of Liam's house, but he didn't have the state of mind to be self-conscience right then. Liam lead him up some brick steps to the front door, opening it and beckoning him inside. 

"Hey, mom?" Liam called when he stepped inside, knowing his mother would be home. "Theo's here!"

"Okay!" Jenna didn't say anything about the arrangement since Liam had texted her and said not to. She was letting Liam handle it, since he was his friend and knew him better than she and David did.

Looking around the house, he noticed they were in a hallway by a staircase with a bunch of pictures on the wall. There were some of Liam as a baby, all framed. There was another of Jenna and David getting married, one with just the bride and groom and another with Liam as a kid around eight years old. There were sonograms that Theo assumed were the new baby's, but one of them was labeled "Liam." Theo decided the best one was one where baby Liam looked to have just crushed a box and seemed very excited about it.

He didn't say anything as Liam grabbed some snacks and headed upstairs, following him without protest. His spirits were slightly raised today, but he was nervous to be in someone's house. He didn't exactly go to people's houses often, and as much as it was kind of sad to say, he didn't go into houses, period, much at all. 

In Liam's room was a queen-size bed and a small couch, all dark blues, greens, and greys. "Well, this is it," Liam said, motioning to everything. He had black shelves with lots of things on them, even though he'd tried to clean up. There was a TV on the wall above them, an Xbox sitting on top of the shelf. Theo looked at it with interest. It must be a new one.

"Want to play?" Liam asked, and Theo nodded.

"I probably suck at it, but sure," Theo laughed. He only played games on his phone, so he had very little idea of how a controller even worked. The two of them sat on the edge of Liam's bed, Liam passing Theo a controller. Usually he would play alone unless Mason and Corey came over, so it was a little different playing with someone new. 

They played a round of some racing game, and THeo was surprised that he didn't come dead last. He didn't necessarily do  _well_ , but he wasn't last. "Hell yeah!" He said, temporarily distracted by the bright colors on the screen. 

"You go in seventh!" Liam laughed, but he wasn't all that serious. Theo looked cute when he was excited, and it was a good change of pace from the last couple of days. Liam noticed that when Theo wasn't mysteriously hot, he was adorable. Two very good combinations.

"Maybe, but it wasn't twelfth!" Theo protested, and Liam smiled as he clicked a button to start a new round. 

They played until it was around six, and Liam loved it when Theo finally managed to win first place. "Yes!" He had gasped, but quickly calmed down once his brain caught up with him. He was still dazed and kind of heavy-feeling from losing Jules.

Theo looked at the alarm clock on Liam's shelf and back at Liam, wishing he didn't have to go. "It's...probably about time I head back to the cliff," Theo mumbled, grabbing his bookbag off the hardwood floor and shoving his phone into it. 

Liam wasn't sure before how to go about saying this, but as soon as he saw Theo try and put his bag on, he stopped him. "Theo-" he blurted, and Theo froze, but didn't look at him. "Stay the night."

Theo turned around and looked confused. If this was any other situation and he wasn't so exhausted, his mind would have defaulted to something way more suggestive, but he had no idea what Liam was saying. "You don't mean that," Theo breathed and gave a self deprecating smile when he realized what Liam was trying to suggest, but the look in Liam's eyes gave away that he did.

"Stay for tonight, stay for a few nights, Theo, stay for as long as you need to." Theo bit the side of his mouth and felt a new range of emotions come up in his chest. "I'm serious," Liam added, his tone genuine. 

"Are you sure?" Theo asked, cautiously sinking down back onto the bed. Liam nodded, and Theo's lip twitched in something of a hopeful expression. 

"My parents are making up the guest room, it should be done soon," He explained, his voice low and calming since it was clear Theo didn't believe him. "I already talked to them. Everything is fine."

Theo's heart was pumping irregularly like it had been all day, and he swallowed the lump in his throat.  _What would he do without Liam?_

"Thank you," He finally choked out, and Liam nodded. "I'm sorry, I don't know how to repay you for this-"

"Theo, hey, it's okay," Liam assured, smiling softly. "You don't have to say anything. I'm going to go downstairs for a minute, just stay here, make yourself comfortable. You can take the bed tonight, I'll go on the couch."

"You don't have to-" Theo said, but Liam was already out the door. 

Of all the thoughts running through Theo's brain, the one that overtook the others was gratefulness and love. He felt something for Liam that he didn't expect to, and it was like someone had launched a rocket in the confines of his brain. 

He knew he thought Liam was cute, and he'd shaken that off, but every time Liam did something for him the feeling grew. He could be doing or saying anything and Theo wouldn't feel the normal casual sense he got from people like Corey and Scott, he felt...more. He was compassionate and kind, and for Liam, he was willing to try and do the same. 


	13. Chapter 13

After those thoughts, it made things even harder when it came to being in the Dunbar-Geyer household. What once was easy, hanging out with Liam like normal, now had multiple other layers to it.

First of all, he had woken up in Liam's bed after promptly forgetting what had happened the day before, confused and kind of panicked until he remembered. Liam's alarm went off at six-thirty and Theo got the everliving fuck scared out of him, but recovered in time for Liam to wake up and turn the damn thing off. "Your alarm is friggin' loud," Theo mumbled when he noticed Liam was awake, and Liam nodded and turned on his floor lamp. 

"Sorry, it's the only way I can actually get up in the morning," He groaned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "How'd you sleep?"

Oh, and there was the second thing. Liam was so kind and special to him in a way that Theo had never felt before, and that was, in his words,  _"fucking overwhelming as shit, damn."_  If this is what caring somebody felt like, he must have been doing it wrong with Lana, since this was all new. 

Thinking about it was a little much for him to process, so just like he did with a lot of his overwhelming things, he shoved it to the back of his mind and drowned it out with literally anything else. "I slept great, thanks," he replied, sitting up and trying to find his shoes. "Where can I use the bathroom?"

Liam pointed to a door that Theo had assumed was a closet, but when he opened it, it was a bathroom. That made more sense. Theo looked at himself in the mirror and wondered what the hell he had done to get himself here. Although he wasn't upset about it, this was certainly a turn of events he wasn't expecting. First, losing Jules and then moving into Liam's place wasn't exactly how he imagined the beginning of his week.

Theo was startled by a knock on the door, and turned around to open it. It was Liam, holding out some clothes. "Hey, these are kind of big on me, so I figure they'll fit you if you need them," Liam said, and Theo didn't miss the way Liam looked him up and down. Once again, he chose not to think about it. He took the clothes and said thanks, waiting for Liam to leave so he could shut the door and get dressed.

This whole close-proximity thing wasn't doing him any favors, and he wasn't talking about the tight fit in the bathroom.

\--

**BIG OOF Groupchat**

Created by Mason

_Tracy_Stewart_09, Romeroz, CoreyBryant, Mase.Hewitt_

**Hayden**  - This chat has evolved

 **Tracy**  - Mason what now

 **Mason**  - Theos fucking wearing Liams shirt askguitwrkhejwf.

 **Corey**  - Are you kidding me??

 **Tracy**  - How do u know

 **Corey**  - Yeah

 **Mason**  - Bc they cAmE tO sChOoL tOgeThEr aNd iM iN tHeOs fIrsT cLasS holy FUCK

 **Hayden**  - I thought he was with Lana though??

 **Tracy**  - Press "X" to doubt

 **Corey**  - Mason you gotta 

 **Mason**  - Gotta what

 **Corey**  - ASK

 **Mason**  - NO

 **Corey**  - YES

 **Mason**  - NO

 **Hayden**  - YES

 **Tracy**  - YES

 **Corey**  - YES

 **Mason**  - FUCK FINE

\--

Liam wasn't expecting to be badgered as soon as he got to lunch, but knowing his friends, he shouldn't have been surprised. "What," Liam sighed, exasperated as he sat down at his lunch table. The four were all looking at him with interest, but he noticed their eyes flick back to the lacrosse table a few times in their silence. Liam looked back and saw that they had a clear view of Theo, and he rolled his eyes. 

Hayden cleared her throat and kicked Mason under the table, who scowled. He didn't understand why he was nominated for this job, but it was clear that they weren't about to let him off without doing it. 

"So, Liam," Mason said, looking like he was a little nervous but also entirely unapologetic. "How are things going with your project?"

Liam pretended not to know what Mason was hinting at, wondering how long he could draw this thing out. "It's going fine, yours?"

"Yeah, it's great," Mason rushed. "Is Theo a good project partner?" 

"He's fine," Liam unhelpfully offered, amused at Mason's expression when he wasn't telling him anything of use. 

"Yeah,  _fine_ ," Corey snorted, and Mason elbowed him in the ribs. "What? It's not like I'm wrong!"

"Liam, Mason's trying to ask if something went down with Theo, because he's literally wearing your shirt." Hayden ate a chip and looked across the table pointedly, as if her eyes could force something out of him. Liam brushed it off.

"What, we can't have the same shirt?" Liam scoffed and shook his head. "And nothing happened. If it did, I'd tell you." A blatant lie, yes, but still something to shut them up. He knew his friends meant well, but he was kind of tired of this; there wasn't really any truth he  _could_  tell. Theo probably didn't want anyone to know that he was moving into Liam's house, so he wasn't about to explain, especially to the ones who always seemed judgemental about him.

"No one would judge you if it did, Liam," Tracy said. "Literally all of us except Hayden are gay, so it's not like we'd be opposed to that or anything."

Liam wasn't really expecting to be thrown into a conversation about his sexuality, so to say that he was taken aback was a little bit of an understatement. "Yeah, I'm not talking about this right now," He laughed it off, even though he was kind of nervous. Nobody had bothered to ask in Devenford, so he never really had any kind of practice with answering a question like that. Sure, his parents suspected he wasn't as straight as a ruler as they'd first assumed, but no one had ever said anything about it. "Nothing's going on."

"Alright," Corey said, unconvinced, but Liam could tell he was still going to say more. "I'd just...be careful. I don't think Raeken's into guys, but it wouldn't surprise me if he decided to switch it up for his own entertainment. He hops around a lot."

Even though the digs and personal questions about him hadn't made him tick, hearing Corey talk about Theo that way seemed to switch something in his brain. His skin became uncomfortable as heat gathered under it, and he willed himself not to say anything, but it was a promise he couldn't keep. He was already conflicted about his feelings for the older boy, so it wasn't making it any better to hear people give their warnings. "What?" He asked shortly, giving Corey one chance to take back what he said, but he didn't.

"I'm just saying, be careful."

Liam pushed his jaw to the side. "You know, you guys say that a lot about him, but have you ever actually talked to him?" He asked seriously, raising an eyebrow in defiance. Tracy shifted in her seat uncomfortably from the sudden change of mood, and Hayden bit the side of her mouth. 

"Well, no, but-" Mason admitted, but Liam didn't let him finish. Just as he'd suspected. The floodgates were open.

"Right, thought so. If you'd ever bothered to learn something about him, you might know that he's not the kind of person to just leave you, especially when you need him. You might know that he's actually pretty friendly once you get to know him, and doesn't deserve what you're saying about him," Liam started, his voice sinking low. "You might know that he's been acting a little weirder than usual because he lost his cousin on Wednesday. He's grieving the loss."

The four were all speechless. They hadn't meant to offend, but admittedly, they did talk about Theo in a harsh way for not even knowing him. Hayden's views on Lana had automatically made her be sceptical of Theo, but she felt guilty now once she remembered how she and Lana both had treated him. Mason hadn't talked to him before they went out to the diner, and he'd completely neglected to think about the good he showed in his haste to hate him. Tracy hadn't spoken to him since the third grade when he put a bug on her desk, but that was juvenile. Corey was even his teammate and had still made it seem like he was nothing but some villain even though he barely did anything. "Liam, we're sorry," Hayden said softly but genuinely, speaking for all of them.

Liam nodded, realizing he may have gone too far. "Don't tell anyone about the cousin thing," He muttered, and everyone nodded. 

No one at the lacrosse team's table had been listening except for Theo, who had zoned out of one of Stilinski's long-winded rants. He had been looking at Liam. Things had gotten a little tense over there, and he was wondering what it was about until he heard his name. 

Liam was defending him, something he'd never experienced, or for that matter, had to experience. This boy was full of surprises.

"He doesn't deserve what you're saying about him," Liam said, and Theo let himself smile to nothing in particular. On the surface, he felt like a bad person because of the bad things that had happened to him, but below that he knew Liam was kind of right. Sure, he was a jerk on the exterior and he wished he wasn't, but he usually wasn't like that. Liam would know.

"Liam," He found himself saying as he got up, nodding towards the door. Liam turned his head and saw Theo, glad that he didn't look mad. 

"I have to..." Liam trailed off when his friends nodded. 

"Go ahead, it's okay," Mason said, waving him off. Liam gave a small smile in response and left, following Theo out of the room.

Out in the hallway, Liam wasn't sure what Theo would say, but according to the look on his face it wasn't bad. "You don't have to do that, I'm used to it," Theo chuckled, and Liam rolled his eyes.

"Don't be stupid, of course I do. It bothers me when people talk about my...friends...that way."

Theo noticed the way Liam hesitated on the word "friends" almost like he was nervous. He raised his eyebrows at him. "What, you don't think we're friends?" His voice was lighthearted but his stomach kind of hurt at the thought, but it was made up for when Liam's face turned red in a way that could only be described as adorable. 

"Well, I- I didn't know if you considered me one, so I didn't want to-"

"Liam, of course we're friends," Theo scoffed, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "How could we not be?" He's only ever been compassionate and kind towards Theo, the exact type of thing Theo had never thought he'd receive. He wondered why Liam treated him this way, and it only added to to wondering if Liam was even real.

Of course, that was just his way of steering away from the obvious feelings growing in his heart, but he'd take that over admitting it. 

\---

After lacrosse practice, Liam and Theo drove back to their house, a concept that was still foreign to Theo, but nevertheless exciting. Theo pulled into the driveway and began to look around, knowing he probably had some things to take inside. He liked wearing Liam's shirt, yeah, but there was definitely some other articles of clothing laying around. He dug around on the floor for stuff, finding mostly trash, until Liam opened the passenger side door. 

"You want help with that?" Liam asked, and Theo nodded. It had been a minute since Liam was inside Theo's truck and not just sitting in the back, but it still smelled like coffee like he vaguely remembered. They sorted through a bunch of plastic bottles until there was no place to put them all without them all falling off a seat and leaving them back at square one. "I'm gonna grab a trashbag, I'll be back."

Once all of the plastic was gone, they worked on identifying and unearthing the stuff Theo had. "I forgot about this," Theo laughed when he picked up a gold bracelet and put it on. It was a little dull from being on the dusty floor the whole time, but Theo still looked good with it. Liam wondered if Theo usually wore jewelry and he just didn't notice. He should wear it more. "I don't even know where I got this, it wasn't a family thing or anything. Yard sale, maybe?" Theo was mostly talking to himself, but Liam's lips quirked up in a smile at the sight. Like he had thought before, when Theo wasn't hot, he was freakin' cute.

"What about this?" Liam chuckled, a smirk falling over his face as he held up what looked to be a clip of somebody's bra. Theo flushed red and grabbed it, shoving it into his pocket, grumbling something about Lana always leaving her shit in his truck. That didn't seem like something you could  _leave_ , per say, and more like something that had been forcibly lost, but go figure. They found a few more of Lana's things, like hair clips and even a pair of flats, which goes to show how organized Theo's truck was. He was weird like that; his notes were clean and proper and so was his disposition, but his truck was literally a mess on wheels.

Eventually they cleaned everything out, chucking what they didn't need in the trash bag which Liam took out to the bins in the back and carrying the rest inside. Theo had found some personal belongings like clothes, and around twenty pens and pencils. They walked into the house and Theo dumped everything onto Liam's bed when he motioned to, and leaned back, tired. 

Liam opened up one of his dresser drawers and began to push some of his shirts to the side, making space for the few shirts Theo had. "What are you doing?" Theo asked, cocking his head to the side as he watched Liam rearrange things. 

"Mom and David won't have the other room set up for at least another week, so you should have some space in here, too," Liam said absentmindedly, figuring out the best way to situate his things. 

Theo walked up and tried to straighten his stuff back out, but Liam wouldn't let him. "Li, you don't have to do that, it's okay," He said apologetically, but Liam shrugged, disregarding the way his heart jumped when Theo called him Li. 

"Well, I want to. These probably have to get washed, right?" He asked, pointing to the clothes Theo had with him.

"If you don't mind."

"No problem, I'll take em' downstairs. The laundry room is in the basement, so if you're ever missing anything, check the dryer down there." Liam scooped up his clothes and started off with them, and Theo sighed. Liam was putting in a lot of effort, and there was very little he could do in return. 

Liam tossed all of Theo's clothes into the washer. He didn't have that much, apart from a few pairs of jeans, a pair of shorts, his lacrosse jersey and hoodie, and some T-Shirts that were all folded up and wrinkled. Theo had the money from Lana to be getting new clothes, which explained things like having nice pens and his one good jacket, but there wasn't really any space to be putting it. He hoped that now he would be able to get some stuff for himself.

It never occurred to him to ask if Theo was still getting money from Lana, and though it felt odd to ask, he decided he should. When he went back upstairs, he leaned against the doorway of his room and tried to pose his question as casually as possible. "Hey," He started, and Theo looked at him with interest. "You're still getting money from Lana, right?"

Theo felt bad about it, but he nodded. "I guess there's not much reason for me to be anymore, is there? I mean, unless I'm paying you back for eating your food and staying in your house-"

"You don't have to pay for that, I already said," Liam sighed, sitting on the bed next to Theo, who was laying and staring at the ceiling. 

"I'm honestly ready to be done with her entirely. I'll just go this week and then say that we can stop. I'm due for Friday, and then I'm done."

"It's okay if you don't want to stop, I'm not going to judge you for it," Liam offered, but Theo shook his head.

"I already feel like crap for taking it in the first place, it's not my money and she shouldn't have been giving it to me anyway."

It was silent for a second when Liam didn't know how to answer, but Theo didn't mind. Theo looked at the rest of the stuff that wasn't his clothes, the things he had put into a plastic bag that he found in the backseat. There were a few pieces of random jewelry that he hadn't seen in years, a pair of shoelaces he never bothered to take out of the package, books, battered notebooks, and about four packs of gum that god only knows how old they are. There was also the box, but he decided not to look at it and just leave it in the bag for as long as he could. 

While he waited for Liam to say something, he tied up his shoes with the new laces and looked around. Liam's room wasn't as messy as he expected it to be, but there were obvious signs of things just being shoved out of the way. His shelves were cluttered, but at least all the things had a color theme. There were only blue and black pieces of crap around, like a bubble wand that Liam still had from ninth grade and multiple blue bottle caps. Liam seemed exactly like the type of person to do that, organize his fucking clutter. 

"Do you have homework?" Liam finally said, and Theo shook his head.

"Nah, I do it in class. You?"

Liam seemed to sigh in relief. "God, yes. Do you know how to do this?" Liam said, flopping on the bed. It still kind of smelled of Theo from when he'd slept there the night before, but he didn't think about it in fear of getting worked up. He held out a mostly-crumpled paper to Theo, who looked at it with interest.

"I don't know what you're reading to do these," Theo said. They were comprehension questions and Liam found himself to be a terrible writer, so he always dreaded doing them.

"Flowers for Algernon. I've never read it, but if that mouse dies, I swear to god I'll be next."

Theo hissed in a breath through his teeth and groaned. "Ooh," He sighed, and Liam's blue eyes widened for a second before he slammed his face into the mattress. 

"Ugh!" Liam groaned. "I don't even want to read it anymore, what the fuck?" Liam calmed down. "But you've read it?"

"Eighth grade honors LA. I don't know why they're doing it again, it's not exactly an eleventh-grade level book," Theo commented, flipping through the pages of Liam's copy with his thumb. He hadn't read it in years, but he recalled the mouse part not even being the most upsetting, but he still remembered his young self being disproportionately upset about that stupid mouse. Then, three years later, he was upset at himself for calling Algernon "that stupid mouse." That book kind of fucked him up, thinking about it. 

They did the questions together, since Liam mostly had trouble picking up on the subtle meanings in the book and didn't know how to format his responses. "You're not one to pick up on subtlety, are you?" Theo laughed when Liam made yet another confused face at something he had said. 

"I guess not, but I'm also wondering how you're so good at this," Liam sighed, rolling over onto his back. Theo was still sitting on the bed with him, his arms behind him to prop him up, his legs off the side. Theo twirled a pencil between his fingers and he shrugged.

"I've had a lot of practice, writing and reading. There's not a lot of stuff to do in a truck on the weekends," Theo said, his voice not even hinting at being upset about it. He was kind of proud of his writing sometimes, one of the only good things that could come out of living in his truck. He'd never share what he wrote, but he liked doing it.

"You write?" Liam asked, impressed, and Theo nodded. "That's really cool. I wish I could do that."

Theo was surprised. Nobody was really impressed by writing unless they themselves were into it. The guys on the team who knew he wrote stories didn't really see anything different about it, him just seemingly writing down some random words on a page like it was nothing. Liam was the first to say anything like that. "Thanks," Theo muttered, and Liam looked up from his face and smiled.

"Oh, my god, are you blushing?" Liam crooned, a teasing lilt in his voice. "Oh, you are!" How was it fair that this boy got to be this smart and cute? That just didn't seem right, but Liam loved it. 

"Shut up," Theo groaned, but his frustrated tone was overruled by an embarrassed laugh. "Nobody's ever said that about writing except my english teachers."

Liam smiled even wider, and Theo nudged him in the ribs. "Get back to work, you could be done in fifteen minutes."

\---

**BIG OOF Groupchat**

Created by Mason

_Tracy_Stewart_09, Romeroz, Mase.Hewitt, CoreyBryant_

**Mason**  - Well I feel like an asshole, wbu?

 **Corey**  - Yep

 **Hayden**  - ok yes but can we talk about that??? Defend your boyfriend Liam yEs.

 **Tracy**  - 

**Mason**  - True but we are kind of jerks though. We talk about them all nice in the gc but then hate on him irl, that's the opposite direction

 **Hayden**  - so you want us to hate on Theo in the groupchat??

 **Mason**  - not the point

 **Corey**  - Mas is right, maybe we should just leave him alone. What do we actually know about him?

 **Tracy**  - Nothing much except his girlfriend is a bitch

 **Corey**  - ik he's on the team and he hasn't had much money w him lately

 **Mason**  - Idk anything except he's fr smitten

 **Corey**  - Did you just fuckinh say smitten

 **Mason**  - I did and Im not sorry. But he's definitely got something for Liam

 **Mason**  - He never looked at Lana that way

 **Tracy**  - Hayden you're leaving us on seen a lot

 **Hayden**  - Yeah, I just don't know anything.


	14. Family Matter

_February 14th, 2016_

"You're gonna mess up the braids!" Lana sighed lightheartedly, her fingers tangled in Hayden's dark brown hair.

"You're gonna mess up your nails!" Hayden laughed as she squirmed, hearing one of Lana's nails tap onto the hair band. She enjoyed the feeling of her fingers running through her hair; it was something soothing, and Hayden wasn't sure when it had started. 

They spent a lot of their nights like this, together in Lana's bedroom. This was a night they'd remember, full of soft kisses and romantic movies, Hayden's two braids getting messed up anyway after their first time. But for now, they were content to just sit, Lana in her comfortable clothes and Hayden with her makeup taken off. 

It was Valentine's day and Lana had rented a ton of rom-coms, a genre of movie Hayden always claimed she hated but still loved. Lana knew her well and what she liked, so as Love, Actually played with the volume low, they were both happy. There were chocolates on Lana's nightstand that every so often they'd pick up and eat, relishing the sweet taste. Lana's room was decorated with paper hearts on a string that Lana had made herself in her spare time, the setting sun shining through the tiny, thin paper shapes. 

"All done," Lana said, tying off the second and last braid in Hayden's hair, leaning down to kiss her. She was a mix of cherry chapstick and chocolate, but all Lana cared about was her Hay. Hayden leaned against her chest, resting her head on her shoulder, and Lana smiled. Her girlfriend still had a little bit of her perfume on her, so the muted scent filled her lungs in the best way. 

"You know how to treat me right," Hayden mumbled sleepily, feeling relaxed in Lana's presence. Her heart bumped a little faster when she looked into Lana's dark and loving eyes, seeing her gazing right back into her's. "I love you, L."

That was the first of many times Hayden had ever said she loved Lana, and both girls knew that she was completely and utterly honest. Lana nuzzled into her hair and Hayden felt a soft kiss on the top of her head. "I love you too."

It was all so soft and nice, between the blankets and the smooth skin and fluffy hair, the company of each other being enough for it to be special. It was sappy and affectionate, but that was all they needed to be; Lana and Hayden.

\--

_Lana wasn't always the way she was now._

_\--_

Obviously, Hayden knew something. Tracy could tell just by how her girlfriend had sent her text, using capitals and punctuation. Something was definitely bothering her if it took her fifteen seconds to perfect her grammar in a text. Who did she think she was talking to, the queen of England? 

Still, she wasn't going to ask, even if she wanted to. Lana was bothering her to no end on this project, and while she was happy Liam seemed to be getting along just fine, she longed for the day she didn't have to talk to Hayden's ex again. She'd been thinking about this for days after Hayden's weird text, and if she was being honest with herself, she had been laying awake at night wondering if the worst was happening behind her back. Something was going on with her, and she was going to find out, in any way she could.

\---

Trouble in paradise in Tracy's house didn't mean the same for Theo and Liam, who were settling into their new situation with ease. The Dunbar-Geyer household had a routine that Theo wasn't entirely sure of for the first few days, but he was starting to fall into the rhythm of it. They would get home from school or practice and chill for awhile, start on their homework, and on Thursdays and Tuesdays, Liam cooked dinner. On Fridays they got takeout from somewhere, which was normally up in the air until somebody sucked it up and chose something, Liam explained. Theo was looking forward to dinner that night.

The semester had since changed, so Liam was changed out of Spanish for his first period class and into art. He was happy to find that he had this class with Theo. Mason and the others weren't there, but Lana was, and she was making herself apparent.

Liam found a table towards the back of the room since there were no desks, and Theo followed without thinking about it. He wouldn't have done it if he knew Lana was following close behind, expecting to sit with him. She was still milking this "relationship" for all it had, and Theo couldn't wait to finally be done with it after that week. He and Liam had decided that one more week wouldn't hurt; it would pay for some new stuff since Theo had the room for it now, and it would keep Theo's image looking good for a little longer. 

Theo rolled his eyes in Liam's direction when Lana sat down in the seat next to him, silently apologizing for bringing Liam into it. The flowery perfume she wore didn't smell like her own, and though Theo wasn't paying attention, Liam recognized it after a few seconds. It was Hayden's, and he cringed, deciding to text both Hayden and Theo about it later to let them know. Why she still had any of Hayden's perfume was beyond him, but it was still a shitty thing to do. "Hey, are you Liam?" Lana asked, a sweet smile on her face. Her doe eyes barely gave away her ulterior motives as they looked at him with interest.

She knew exactly who Liam was, and she had been kind of keeping an eye on him whether she meant to or not. Before she and Theo had broken up out of the public eye, Liam wasn't on her radar, but he was getting more important now. All she knew was Theo seemed to spend a lot of time with him, though she couldn't be upset about it. 

Liam plastered on a fake but convincing smile, nodding. "Yeah, I am."

"I've seen you on the lacrosse field, you're pretty good," She complimented in an attempt to talk to him, and Liam gave her a nice look back, but kicked Theo under the table. Theo chuckled silently as he could sense Liam's frustration, but said nothing.

The art teacher passed out their sketchbooks, Theo's having already been drawn in, but Liam's brand new since he was a new student. "For a warm-up today, I want you to draw the weekend plans you have coming up," the teacher instructed.

Liam got to drawing playing some video games, trying to ignore that his people looked more like sticks or aliens than humans. He was there in front of a TV that said in simple handwriting "Mario Kart," the minimal effort showing. Theo was next to him, and Liam tried to convey that Theo was trying a lot harder than he was, since in his time of living with Theo, he found that he was  _passionate_  about Mario Kart. Even though his drawing wasn't good, he still got wrapped up in it until the teacher told them to stop. 

She came around and looked at all of the papers, eventually stopping at the table where the three teens were sitting. She hummed nicely when she got to Liam's, complimented Lana's (Since let's be honest, she was good) but stopped at Theo's.

"Theo," She started.

"Yes?" Theo asked, a hint of playfulness in his voice. Liam smirked and leaned over to see what Theo had drawn. It was a good drawing, but it was of Jurassic Park, not his plans for the weekend. 

"Are you planning to see Jurassic Park over the weekend?" She asked, and Theo shook his head. "So...your plans are to be in Jurassic Park?"

Theo nodded his head proudly, and Liam couldn't stop himself from letting out a quiet laugh with the rest of his class when Theo didn't break eye contact with the art teacher.

Liam barely got to see this side of Theo outside of the house, the one who joked around for no reason and wasn't doing it to impress anyone. He looked over to Liam with a sideways grin on his face, and Liam felt his face heat up. God, he was so obvious when he liked someone it was painful. He was lucky that Theo only picked up hidden themes in books, because he would definitely be showing about now. 

Lana, on the other hand, was a different story. She took one look at Liam's red face and she raised her eyebrows at the table, making a face to nothing in particular. Even if she usually thought about her relationship with Theo as just something that went terribly wrong, (she felt bad about it, she really did) she had to admit that that was cute. Theo had a small smile on his face that she'd very scarcely seen before, and that was enough for her inner friend to flame up. Theo and Liam? Hell yeah, she shipped it. 

She kept those opinions to herself, something she didn't do often, and went through the class noticing all the subtle little things Theo did, and the very not subtle things Liam did. Liam was about as obvious as a highlighter, neon yellow in everything he tried.

\--

"I can't believe you drew all that," Liam laughed as they walked out of class. Anyone passing by would have thought that they were trying to flirt with each other by the way Liam had one hand on Theo's arm as he laughed, and Theo leaned into him. Theo shrugged but chuckled as well.

"Well, it's not like I have any plans!" Theo said defensively, a smile on his face that made Liam's heart jump in his chest. God, what was Theo doing to him? It had been a few weeks since Liam had admitted to himself that he had a  _massive_  crush on Theo, and it had only grown since Theo opened up. Theo was unfortunately not as willing to say to himself the obvious truth; he would look at Liam and see an adorable puppy and sometimes an attractive guy, but not even register that that could mean he had feelings for him.

Liam and Theo were halfway to their second classes when they both got a text at the same time, in the family group chat. It made Theo beyond happy that he was part of it, but he was less focused on it and more wondering why someone had texted him. Jenna and David acted like they didn't know Liam and Theo used their phones in school, so they didn't usually text them.

"It's David," Theo said as Liam struggled to take his phone out. Theo put in his passcode and clicked on the notification, putting the phone in the middle of them so they could both see it.

**Family Chat**

_David, Jenna, Liam, Theo_

**David**  - Mom is on her way to the hospital right now, baby is coming. please come when you can.

Liam's eyes widened as he dug out his own phone to reply, hands shaking. His mom was having her baby, and it was kind of early, just barely missing four weeks. Three weeks and six days from the due date was kind of a concerning time to go into labor.

"Did you know she was due today?" Theo asked, racing to their lockers so they could grab whatever they needed before they left. Liam shook his head.

"She's not, this is way early!" Liam breathed. He wasn't sure if he was nervous or excited or both, but either way, he was a lot more jittery than he had been that morning. Theo seemed to be the same, mostly happy for Jenna and enjoying how excited and jumpy Liam was being.

"Is it a boy or a girl? I never really heard anything about it," Theo said. Jenna talked about the baby a lot, and Jenna had even invited Theo to feel it kick once, but she didn't say much about the actual information. "Or do they not know?"

"They decided to have it be a surprise, it's been eating me up, honestly," Liam chuckled, his hands still shaking as he undid the lock on his locker and started throwing things into his schoolbag. He must have looked pretty odd to the passing students who didn't know what was going on, but he was pretty beyond caring. Liam broke into a run down the hallway, knowing that he was going to get in trouble if someone caught him, but he didn't mind. 

They ran out to the parking lot and got into Liam's car, Theo hitting his foot on the way in but ignoring the throbbing pain in turn for excitement. "I can't believe it," Liam rambled as he fumbled with his keys, almost dropping them twice. "She was scheduled for the surgery on the twenty-eighth, but I guess they're cancelling!" Liam wasn't completely sure what he was saying, but Theo grinned at Liam's happiness anyway. He liked seeing him like this. 

Fifteen agonizing minutes of waiting later, Liam pulled into the parking lot of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. Theo had been here only a few times before, but Liam was already well-aware of where everything was, mostly because he would hang out there occasionally while David was on duty. Liam lead him to the front desk, where a woman with brown hair was waiting. Theo had seen her before, and her smile was very familiar, but he wasn't sure why he knew her.

"Liam!" She said, a wide grin on her face, something motherly and caring. "You're here, good! David and Jenna a few floors up getting ready, I'll take you there."

"Thanks, Melissa," Liam said, grabbing Theo's arm to bring them both to the elevators. Melissa walked ahead while Theo tried to think of where she had been before that he'd seen her. Melissa pushed the button for floor four and stood with both boys, planning to use her clearance pass to get them through.

Melissa seemed to recognize Theo too. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" She asked, and Liam nodded his head while Theo thought. 

"He's on the lacrosse team with Scott, you probably saw him at one of the games," Liam offered, and Melissa snapped.

"That's where! I'm Scott's mom, by the way. Are you a friend of the Geyers?" She asked, and Theo nodded.

"Yeah, I've been staying with them recently. Legal guardian documents and everything," Theo joked, and Liam was surprised at how open he was being. "That's not really...public, though, so if you could not tell Scott-" Theo changed his mind after he had said it, but Melissa shook her head.

"No problem, you're fine. Thanks for letting me know, I'll explain to the doctors why you're there with Liam," Melissa said as the elevator dinged, signaling they were on the fourth floor. David was pacing around a waiting room, wondering where Theo and Liam were. "David?" Melissa prompted, and David looked relieved when he saw her hands on the boys' shoulders. 

Liam ran up to give his stepdad a hug while Theo rocked back and forth on his heels nervously. They were all ready for Jenna to have this baby already now that they were there, and everyone was kind of jittery. Melissa wished David a quiet "good luck" before going back to the first floor, and David went back into the room Jenna was in.

The two teens sat down in the purple waiting room chairs, choosing two right next to the door so if anything happened they could tell. Liam's leg bounced up and down and Theo noticed how nervous he seemed to be, more than excited for that matter. "Hey, are you alright?" The older boy asked, and Liam nodded his head far too quickly. 

Theo put his hand on Liam's wrist, his brain chickening out on grabbing his hand. Liam looked down at their joined skin and stopped shaking so badly, knowing that Theo was there and trying to make him feel better.

Theo and Liam were once again left to wait until David popped his head back out of the room. "Liam? Your mom wants to see you." 

Theo gave him a hopeful smile as Liam got up, brushing himself off out of nervousness and heading into the room. He didn't know what Jenna said to him in there, but he was left in the waiting room with David. 

As Theo noticed Liam's stepdad looking at him like he was trying to solve a puzzle, he started to internally panic. What was David thinking? While he usually didn't care about the opinions of other people, those were his classmates, not the man who was so generously letting him stay under his roof. If David or Jenna caught him at a bad time, this could all be over. His heart pumped and he tried to focus on anything else.

"So," David started, and Theo bit his tongue. "Are you and Liam...?"

Theo's face turned a dark crimson, his eyes widening in shock. "W-What?" He stuttered, hoping he was reading him wrong. David smiled. 

"Are you and Liam dating?"

If his face wasn't red before, it certainly was now. "Um, no, we're not," he stammered, wondering what the hell happened and why his tongue felt like it was too big for his mouth. This was an all-new feeling. "We're just friends."

"It's okay if something's going on," David assured him when he noticed Theo getting nervous. Even if there was nothing physical, there were definitely some gears turning in that head of his, and David was prone to find out sooner or later. He didn't prod anymore. He'd raised a teenager before, so he kind of knew how he worked, and if he was going to get information about it, it would come out on its own.

Liam stepped out of the room. "You can go back in," He said softly to David, who brushed his hands off on his jeans and stood up. Liam preferred not to be in the room when his mom gave birth, since that was maybe a little more than he'd like to see, but he was still waiting somewhat impatiently. David went into his wife's room and waved a small goodbye to Theo and Liam, who smiled back.

\--

The first look Liam got of Tyler Morris Geyer, he got when Theo was right next to him. The older boy was wondering why the Geyers had allowed him so close to their lives, but when Liam was invited in to see his new baby brother, it seemed obvious to Jenna and David that Theo would come too.

It had been years since Theo saw a baby, and he marveled at how little he really was. He was still wrinkly and red, but nevertheless adorable already. He had yet to open his eyes so Liam could see, but Theo found himself wondering if he would have the same ones Liam and Jenna did or if Tyler would have his father's.

\--

Back in the Dunbar-Geyer house, there was yet another new boy, and they seemed to be getting along just fine.

Theo had been trying to sleep to no avail when he heard Liam step out of their room, heading across the hall and a door down. Theo watched as he pushed through the cracked door carefully, going to see Jenna who was inside with the baby. 

"Hey, mom," Liam said softly. Jenna was in one of the chairs they'd set up in Tyler's yellow and green nursery, holding her son. "Do you need to get some rest? I can hold him for awhile, it's late."

There he was, that thoughtful Liam Theo knew and loved. "Thank you, L," Jenna sighed, a thankful smile on her face as she got up and handed Liam Tyler. It had been seventeen long years since she had had to deal with a baby before, and after all that happened that day, she really did need to get some sleep. "Come and get me if you need anything, okay?"

Jenna went off to bed, and Theo decided that since he wasn't sleeping, he would go and give Liam some company. He knocked lightly on the doorframe with one finger. "Need any help?" He asked, and Liam smiled up at him, signaling for him to come and sit. The taller boy took the seat next to Liam's, and looked down at the half-awake baby. Tyler was kicking around a little, and Liam gave one of those laughs where you were kind of breathing just a little faster. Theo wondered what was cuter, the baby, or Tyler.

He decided Liam was cuter. 

"Do you want to hold him?" Liam offered, and Theo's expression shifted from content to nervous in a split second. "It's okay, I'll help you."

Theo nodded slightly and held out his arms, and Liam placed the baby down so his head was in the crook of Theo's elbow. "Just like that, make sure his head is supported."

Theo took a shaky breath. He'd never held a baby before, so it was an entirely new experience that he wasn't sure he was doing right. According to the smile on Liam's lips, he was, and he relaxed a little bit. 

Liam soon drifted off to sleep in the comfy nursery chair, but Theo didn't mind. Tyler snuggled up against him but didn't seem to be sleeping, and when he opened his eyes, Theo found that he did have the same ones as Liam. They might change, since most babies are born with blue eyes, but for now they were almost identical. Someone would fall for those eyes one day, just like Theo did for Liam's.

When that thought struck his mind, his heart stuttered in his chest and he looked over at the sleeping teen. That was the first time one of those thoughts really sunk in, and it was enough to push him over the edge into realization. He really should have seen it before, but this was different.

He liked Liam. Like,  _like_ , liked Liam. Woah.

-

The younger boy woke up a couple hours later to find that Theo was making little noises.  _Why do I like this guy?_ He thought jokingly to himself, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. Once they adjusted to the light, he saw what Theo was doing.

 _Oh,_ He remembered.  _That was why._

Theo was rocking the baby in his arms, making little shushing noises that seemed to be calming Tyler down. It was a cute sight, the normally so uptight and stiff Theo holding a baby. Liam grinned to himself at the sight and said nothing, trying to keep this moment going for as long as he could.

"Hi," Theo whispered, careful not to wake up the sleepy Tyler. "I was just trying to get him back to sleep before he woke anyone up. It's working," He explained, and Liam just nodded. 

When Tyler was finally back asleep, Theo placed him gently in his crib and nodded towards the door. "Ready to sleep? It's your turn for the bed."

What Liam wanted to say was "Why don't you just share it with me," but he didn't. He offered just another nod in agreement, heading off to sleep again with the cute visions of Theo drifting through his mind.   
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a Lana/Hayden fic if anyone's interested, it's not the same as what went on in this main story, but I got an idea and ran with it :)


	16. Impulse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ..All I'm gonna say: it's a big one.

"I think I'm going to do it today."

Theo and Liam were laying in Liam's room. The guest room had since been set up for Theo, but he still found himself gravitating towards Liam's bedroom when he got bored or wanted to hang out with the younger boy, and Liam didn't mind. Liam had Tyler on his stomach, sleeping away, but they'd found that his little brother was a surprisingly heavy sleeper when he wasn't screaming. 

Still, Theo didn't mind spending some extra time with Liam. Now that he had finally come to the pretty big conclusion that he liked Liam as more than a friend, he had slept on it, and it only got worse. He had a  _dream_  about how cute he was. Who does that? Apparently Theo when it came to Liam, who Theo was currently watching breathe. He was really deep into this, wasn't he? 

They'd both woken up an hour earlier because of the baby, so they'd already eaten and gotten ready for school. Liam had absentmindedly been watching whatever was on his Netflix queue while keeping Tyler asleep, but he wasn't surprised by Theo's voice. "Do what?" He asked, turning his head to look at Theo. He was kind of a funny sight, with one of Tyler's stuffed animals sitting on his chest just as Tyler was on Liam's. 

"Break up with Lana. She keeps being annoying, I'm ready for her to give it up already," Theo sighed, shifting to get more comfortable. He never told Lana that Julian died, so every time she brought him up he was forced to keep his trap shut, because he wasn't about to tell her now. He was ready to be free of her, and being around Liam wasn't exactly motivating him to stay with her when he wanted him instead. She'd have no problem finding someone else to use, so it wasn't like it would be a big loss for her, anyway.

"Good for you," Liam said. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Theo nodded. He hadn't been to the cliff in a little while, but he occasionally came back when he needed to. Today wouldn't be one of those times unless she decided to do something intense, but knowing her, she would probably need at least a few days to think of something. "I'll be alright. Better, actually. The thing is, I'm just wondering if you will."

"About Lana?" Liam snorted, but Theo rolled his eyes lightheartedly.

"No, not about Lana. I know you haven't forgotten about the game today."

Liam's smile fell slowly. "I haven't." How could he? Brett had fucked him over pretty badly last time, but he wasn't as worried as he thought he might be now. Theo was there for him, he knew that, and that stopped his anxiety in its tracks before it could even start. "I just have to get through today, that's all."

Theo gave him a sympathetic smile, wishing he could make it better for him. This was the side of him nobody saw, the one that tried to be helpful, and Theo rarely caught himself doing it either. Liam had that influence. He didn't know that just being there made it better, so he sat and wondered what he could do.

Jenna came and knocked on the doorframe, smiling at the two boys. "Hey, it's about time for you guys to go," she mentioned, even though the sight of all three of them was too cute to want to pass up. Theo sat up and helped Liam with the baby, passing both Tyler and the stuffed rabbit to Jenna. 

"See you later, Mrs. Geyer," Theo said as he left, and Jenna sighed.

"How many times do I have to say you can call me Jenna?"

"Sorry, Mrs- Jenna," Theo corrected, and Liam smirked. They left the house and Theo drove them to school, still reveling in his oddly clean truck. "Have I mentioned how nice your mom is?" Theo asked, only a little jokingly.

"Only about a million times," Liam sighed, but his amused expression was stopped by the sight of Brett at his car. He was talking to Lana, leaning against it, and Liam gritted his teeth. "You might want to see something," He muttered, and Theo looked up from where he was texting. He looked in the direction of Liam's gaze and put his phone in his pocket.

"It'll be fine," Theo assured, but he wasn't really sure. "We've fought really hard for this game, just imagine the look on his face when we beat him again on the field." Liam nodded, putting those thoughts in his head in place of his worried and angry ones. He got out of the car shortly after Theo did, not sparing anyone a glance as he went to find his friends. "I'll see you in a little bit, okay? I'm gonna break up with her at the lockers." He wanted Liam to see him be available. Even if Liam wasn't into him, he would still put it out there that he was free. Liam grinned to himself and headed off into the school.

"Hey, guys," He greeted the four who were waiting for him outside, who all smiled up at him. Tracy looked a little off emotion wise, but everyone else was normal. "We should head in, the bell's going to ring soon."

Liam went to his locker and waited for Theo to show up, knowing that he would be able to tell when Lana and Theo broke up. The two of them weren't very subtle with anything when it came to their "relationship," so there was bound to be some over dramatic flourishes between the two of them. He felt a little tap on his shoulder as he grabbed his sketchbook out of his locker, looking to see that it was just Theo running his fingers along his jacket. There was a small smirk on his face, and Hayden noticed as he passed. Tracy was also there with her girlfriend, so the two girls looked at Liam questioningly. Liam just shrugged and nodded over to where Theo was approaching Lana.

"Hi, Theo," Lana said like nothing was different. She waited at Theo's locker every day, especially now that she was trying to keep an image up. Her friends had started to notice that she and Theo weren't as intimate as they used to be, so she wasn't trying to cause any more suspicion. Theo didn't say anything back, and instead unzipped his backpack. Liam stifled a laugh as he did it loudly enough for people to look at him questioningly, and couldn't even help letting a quiet one out when he started pulling out the stuff Lana left in his car. 

"You left all this," He started, and Lana knit her eyebrows together as she watched him pull the things out. Liam bit the side of his mouth when he pulled out the pair of flats and dropped them on the tiled floor. The loud  _slap_  the rubber soles made on the floor made a few more students turn to look at them. "I won't need these anymore."

"What are you doing?" She scoffed, folding her arms over her chest. Hayden and Tracy both leaned out to see what was happening, which was probably the best-case scenario for Lana, but neither of them knew that. 

Theo paused, handing Lana the bra clip they'd found and Liam almost lost his shit. "Oh, I thought it was obvious," Theo said like he was surprised. "I'm breaking up with you. Figured you'd want your stuff back."

"Are you serious?" Lana shot, picking her flats up off the floor and shoving them into her locker. "You are. Fine." She turned and it looked like she was about to walk away, but that was too simple for a Lana Danielson breakup, especially with someone who infuriated her as much as Theo. With a swift spin of her heel, she reached around and slapped Theo across the face, the noise echoing. Theo laughed.

"What was that for?" He asked, completely unfazed. Liam's mouth fell open, and he was about to get upset, but Theo didn't seem to care. 

"You know what that was for," She offered, a weaker response than Liam expected. "Have fun with Liam," She whispered harshly so only Theo could hear.

"Oh, don't worry," Theo said. "I will."

Lana stalked off, giving Liam, Hayden, and Tracy some varying looks as she made her way past. Liam's was one of amusement, Hayden got a flirty one, and Tracy got a smug smirk. She didn't even have to change her expressions for the trio to understand what she was trying to convey. She was  _good_. 

"I..." Hayden trailed off, laughter in her voice. "That was...spectacular."

Her girlfriend wasn't exactly happy with that statement. Tracy rolled her eyes and left, to which Liam raised his eyebrows. He didn't have time to ask about it though, because Hayden was already off trying to see what was wrong. 

Liam turned to face Theo, but he was once again knocked down from the pedestal of happiness he was on by the sight that met him. Some of the girls weren't waiting at all and had started to pounce on him, Theo already talking to a blonde. Theo looked over at him and gave him a look that was only read as him living his best life, so Liam gave a halfhearted smirk back before walking to art class alone. He wouldn't have been so happy to see Theo be single if he knew what it was like when he was. 

Theo slid into the seat next to him once he got to class, giving him a smile. Liam nodded back.

Now, Theo hadn't really been scheming anything for awhile now, but today was full of them. It wasn't his intention to get that girl's number written on his arm, but there it was, written in black sharpie on the inside of his forearm. He had pulled up the sleeves of his shirt since he knew his arms looked nice, but also to show Liam the numbers.

Liam did notice it, and his heart fell to his stomach. Ouch. Theo moved on quick, like he expected he would, but it still kind of stung to see someone else's handwriting all over him. He knew it was stupid to be jealous over that, but it had felt so different knowing that Lana was a fake relationship. He'd felt bad, yes, and he knew that morally, he should feel happy for Theo if someone else wanted him. His eyes lingered on the black ink, and subconsciously, he uncapped a marker that sat on the table and started drawing on his own wrist. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to be, but the feeling of the slightly cold ink on his skin gave him a little relief.

Theo leaned over to see what Liam was doing, since he wasn't working on the assignment. He was drawing Jurassic Park again, so he was more interested in something other than the assignment as well. "That's cool," Theo said, and he wasn't lying. Liam seemed surprised that he thought so, but Theo was still looking at it intently. "Do one on me." Theo presented his other arm for Liam to draw on.

"What do you want on it?" Liam asked, looking around to make sure the teacher wouldn't catch him and yell at him. Theo shrugged.

"Anything," He said, and Liam went to work. He was better at just drawing geometric or abstract designs, so that's what he did. He started with just a square, adding dots in and outside each of the four corners, admiring how the nib of the marker glided along Theo's slightly tanned skin. He drew it on the outside of his arm, right above his wrist area, visible if Theo kept his sleeves up. Theo watched Liam work with interest, and when Liam put his hand on his wrist so he could work steadily, his skin burned at the places where his fingertips touched. He looked at Liam and loved the way his tongue poked out of his mouth slightly as he concentrated, a small smile to himself coming from seeing it. When he was done, Theo whistled and snapped a picture. "Nice," He said, nodding at the tattoo. "I like it."

Liam was proud of himself, and for a little while, he forgot he was jealous.

That feeling was soon gone when they were out in the halls again, where girls and guys alike were whispering as they passed by. 

_"I heard Raeken broke up with his girl," A guy said._

_"So...Lana's free?" His friend asked, looking around to see if she was around._

_"The real question is, is_ Raeken _free?" He said back, and his friend scoffed playfully._

Liam didn't say anything about that, but he was glad he wasn't the only guy who had a crush on the untouchable Theo. Sure, he wasn't untouchable to the female population, but the only guy who had ever tried to pick him up was Brett, and he wasn't sure that he was actually serious. If Theo heard what people were saying, he didn't indicate anything about it. "I gotta use the bathroom," Theo said, nodding towards the boys' bathroom.

"Me too," Liam agreed, following him in. Theo smirked to himself as he did, but once again kept his thoughts to himself. After they used the bathroom, Liam washed his hands and waited for Theo to be done washing his, but he was taking longer than usual. 

Theo put his forearm under the soap dispenser and pumped some foam onto the girl's writing, rubbing it in and then scraping at the remnants of the ink with his fingernails. Liam laughed and leaned against the counter, an attempt at humor even though he was hurting. "Did you even put that in your phone?" He asked incredulously. The girl was pretty, so he wasn't sure why Theo wouldn't want to take up the offer. 

"Nah," Theo said casually as he rubbed at his now red skin. There were only faded marks of where the number used to run from his wrist almost to his elbow. Why she had written it so big was beyond him, but at least it had made it easy for Liam to notice. "Cara's alright, she's not really my type, though." Theo kept Liam's drawing and wiped the moisture off of his newly cleaned skin, making a point to keep water away from Liam's handiwork. 

"Oh, you have one?" Liam joked, and Theo feigned offense and flicked water at him. 

"I'm not looking to get with just anybody after being in a relationship for that long, what do you take me for?"

"But when you're in a relationship, however..." Liam trailed, and Theo clicked his mouth at him.

"Be quiet, this is slut-shaming and I'm not here for it," Theo said, but Liam knew he wasn't actually upset with him. "Besides, that was  _that_  relationship. I had an excuse there."

"Sure, heartbreaker," Liam laughed, nudging Theo in the ribs and enjoying the smile he got when he did it. 

\---

The day went on like that. Theo still had people flirting with him the whole time, including Brett  _again_ , which Liam gave an eyeroll to. The game was friggin' cancelled now, but the Devenford students were still lurking around since it wasn't worth driving them back to their own school. Brett had narrowed his eyes and walked off, angered, and Liam didn't think about it too much after that.

Along with the flirting and unwanted advances Theo got, there was something else, and that was the new feeling of being around Liam now that he knew how he felt. He was very sceptical of the concept that Liam could like him back, but now things were different. Every time he touched Liam or was touched by him, he knew why he broke into goosebumps or flinched, and each and every one had a new sense of franticness to it. He knew now that he had liked Liam for a really long time, and now he was aching for something more, but at least he had the understanding of what he was feeling. 

\--

That understanding was probably why it hurt so bad when he was away from Liam, and he heard Brett's voice pipe up in the main hallway by the staircase. 

"Hey, everybody!" He called out, and Theo silently cursed, shoving things into his locker and waiting to see what else he could hear. People started to gather around, eager to hear whatever Brett thought was so important. "I've got a little something to say about one of your players!"

 _Oh god,_ Theo thought, cringing as he struggled to shut his locker and head over. 

"You guys know Liam Dunbar?" He asked, and most of the students nodded. Hayden and Mason made their way over to the crowd, Tracy and Corey coming over soon after. 

Liam's heart dropped for the second or third time that day when he heard his name, and he pushed through the crowd. He tried not to draw attention to himself, but he had to make his presence at least a little known to get through. People started to look at him, already judgemental even though Brett had barely started. "If you know Liam Dunbar, you might already know what kind of anger case he is. Really, a nightmare to be around." His insults weren't even funny, they were just cruel and only getting worse. Liam made his way to the front.

"Brett," He said low in his throat. Upon hearing the second voice, Theo rushed over, trying to get through with little success. He wasn't about to let Liam lose control and prove Brett right. "Don't do this."

"Why shouldn't I? Shouldn't your new classmates get to know the real Liam? The one who I flirted with once and he threw a chair at?" Brett asked, loud and accusing, and people started to mutter amongst themselves. "I mean, what kind of homophobe do you have to be to throw a chair at somebody like that? That's assault, and really, a hate crime."

A hush fell over everyone at the word  _homophobe_. His friends looked at him, their expressions a mix of concern but also disappointment in him. His blood ran hot through his veins and he tried to protest, to do anything to make his classmates believe that he wasn't who Brett was making him out to be. "I'm not-"

"You always freaked out whenever anyone joked about us dating, and even now when I so much as look at a guy, you give me some kind of death stare. That pretty much screams 'homophobic,' Dunbar," Brett spat, and Theo finally made his way to the front of the crowd. 

"Liam, come on, we should go-" He said, grabbing Liam's arm, but to his dismay he shook it off.

"I'm not homophobic, Brett!" Liam shouted, and Theo winced at his forwardness. Liam's heart beat in his ears. This was exactly the type of thing Theo wanted to avoid, he wanted to pull Liam away before his impulsiveness could take over and say something he might regret. The tallest of the three boys laughed.

"Why? And don't say that you're friends with Bryant and his boyfriend, because that doesn't mean anything!" Brett shot back, pointing an accusing finger and jabbing the shorter boy in the chest. Theo gnashed his teeth and stepped forward to push Brett off, but Liam opened his mouth. 

"I'm not homophobic because I'm  _gay!"_

The chatter of his classmates had stopped entirely for a good three seconds after Liam said it, and his anger changed to mortification. Everyone was quiet now, even Brett, who's confident look faltered and his eyebrows raised. Liam's face drained of any color but felt hot, his fingers coming to his mouth as though he could have stopped what he said with his hand. He took a breath he didn't know he was holding, coming out as a shuddering release of air.

His eyes let up from the floor to Theo, who looked stunned. Theo's lips were slightly parted and Liam couldn't read how he was feeling from the look in his eyes, which was enough to push Liam over the edge. He turned around and started to walk, each footfall matching his erratic heartbeat. He couldn't believe what he just did, outing himself in front of everyone, not even in a way that he wanted to. He had done it out of pure spite, the words having come out without his permission. This IED was going to kill him if his embarrassment didn't.

The crowd of people started to chatter again, this time more frantically and quickly. There was no doubt that someone had caught it on camera, and stray yells of "send it to me" could be heard as Theo looked around. His feet were rooted to the floor, but his head turned to Brett, who still looked like he'd been smacked. "Fuck you," Theo breathed, seething. There was nothing else to say that wouldn't end in him beating Brett to the ground for provoking Liam into doing that, so he finally made his feet move to get Liam.

Liam was on his way out of the school, the tears clouding his vision and getting increasingly more difficult not to let fall. Now everyone knew, and Theo probably hated him. For how he acted around him, for how he kept it a secret and touched him like he knew he shouldn't have, for the stupid, serious crush he was bound to find out about now that he knew Liam was gay. 

"Li," Theo called from down the hallway, but Liam kept walking, brushing away one of the tears that had escaped. "Liam!" Theo broke into a sprint until he reached the boy and grabbed his arm, making it so he couldn't run away. 

If he wasn't heartbroken enough by what he'd seen back there, seeing Liam turn around was even worse. He looked scared, like he was afraid Theo would hate him, because he was. There was nothing that made this more daunting than the thought that Theo wouldn't want to be friends with him anymore. Theo didn't want to ever make Liam feel that way. 

He pulled him in close so that his head rested on his chest, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug, trying to show Liam that he didn't hate him at all. Liam stiffened in his grip before melting into it, letting himself breathe again as he took in Theo's all-too-familiar scent and feeling the soft material of his shirt. 

This time, neither of them had to say a word. They knew where they'd end up next.  
  
  
  



	17. Outlook

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is different, and I definitely think I could have written it better...but I hope you enjoy anyway :)

_The first time Liam can remember the Brett Situation starting was the end of his freshman year of highschool, after lacrosse practice was over. You wouldn't be able to tell now, but Brett and Liam used to be great friends. They grew up together since the third grade when Brett was new to Rosedale Elementary, and their parents decided to transfer them both to Devenford Prep for some better opportunities for their sons. They played side by side in lacrosse and the two even tried out for the team together and got on._

_Brett and Liam hung out a lot in the beginning, and no one saw anything wrong with it, but then Brett started dating a boy. Liam didn't have a problem with that, but it did make him think: What would it be like to date another boy? That must have come off as him being judgemental, but their friendship was starting to strain from the first time the defensive Brett saw Liam look at him funny._

_After Brett and his boyfriend broke up, things went back to normal, except for Brett's sexuality getting in the way of his friendships. Liam and Brett were still close, closer than the rest of the guys on the team, and now that they knew Brett was bi, the team started to make their jokes._

_The now questioning Liam didn't appreciate being put on blast like that. He couldn't hang out with Brett anymore without people accusing him of having a crush on him, and it was a bad few months before summer break. He hoped things would go back to normal after the summertime, after he'd experimented a little bit from a guy from another school and found out he liked guys, but it didn't._

_It got worse once Liam knew that he was gay, since now the jokes actually made sense in a way he wouldn't like them to be. Anyone could find out at any point that he was into guys, which scared the shit out of him, so when people made their jokes, he couldn't laugh them off anymore. He got angry and annoyed with people who asked about him and his supposed "boyfriend" Brett, and people took notice. That made it so much more fun to do. If Liam got mad, everyone else started to pick up on it and play it to their advantage._

_Liam recalls it hurting most when Brett made the jokes too, suggesting that they should just "bang it out and see what happens." Liam had shut his locker, hard, and walked away without another word. Brett wasn't supposed to take the side of the guys who made fun of him each and every day, and it worried him._

_It was the last straw of Brett being suspicious of him when he had that outburst with the chair. His only explanation for Liam's sudden aversion to him was that he had something against his sexuality, and that hit him hard. It was scary, although Brett would never admit it, to have his best friend violently toss a chair at your feet. He had no idea about the IED._

_That was the last Brett had seen of Liam Dunbar until he came to Beacon Hills, and it was fine that way. Everything had been under control._

But now, Liam recalled all of this as he sat in the front seat of Theo's truck and chewed on his fingernail, wishing he were anywhere but Beacon Hills. His heart hurt for so many reasons that it made him dizzy, and he was hoping that nothing would happen. Theo was comforting in the normal way, and he was the only one he wanted to be around, but also the one he needed to avoid the most.

In Liam's opinion, there was no reason for Theo to forgive him. Theo spent a lot of time being quiet. So many thoughts must roll around in his head every time he closed his mouth, so there was no way that he hadn't put together all of this yet. Liam was mortified, to say the very least, that the guy he was falling in love with, the straight guy player with a reputation, would soon know about it. Even if Theo had surprised him hundreds of times over, he doubted he'd do it again and be okay with all of this.

Theo could feel Liam slipping away into his anxiety, so he sped up a little faster. They were both rather stressed out now, and they needed to get out of their thoughts and onto the cliff. As he drove, he zoned off and remembered something of his own.

He remembered the first time he had a crush on someone, for real. It was seventh grade, where his stupid boy hormones were raging up and he was generally either unnecessarily rude or came on way too strong. There was a girl, and whether or not he would admit it to himself at the time, a boy, who he liked that year.

_Her name was Gwen, and she was pretty in all the best ways, all soft smiles and velvety hair, walking smoothly through school like she had not a care in the world. Theo was immediately interested in her just from her demeanor alone, and when he learned more about her, he liked her even more._

_When it came around time for the Snow Ball, one of the most important events in your middle school life at BHMS, he decided to get his act together and ask her to the dance. They were pretty good friends at that point, and he was nervous as hell, but he put on a nice shirt and his best jeans and planned it all out. This was about a year before his mom and dad left them in the scrapyard, when they still had a little house and some money, so he could afford to look good._

_"Hey, Gwen," He said one day, and Gwen could immediately tell that something was off with him. She had been hoping to avoid this confrontation, and she hid a cringe. Theo was nice, he was, but she had a crush on someone else. "I was just wondering if you...wanted to go with me to the Snow Ball?" He asked, a light blush on his cheeks, and Gwen felt bad for having to turn down that little smile._

_It was pretty devastating for young Theo to get rejected, that being his biggest issue before his family blew up, but he eventually moved on. He had actually liked Gwen, but in the next few months, he wouldn't have any time to like anyone like that. He found Lana, who provided for him, and he was grateful, but he knew she didn't compare to Gwen._

Or Liam.

Thinking back on it now, Theo had been drawn to Liam for the same reasons as he was originally into Gwen; he was cute, and interesting, but he wasn't smooth at all. That was one of the things he grew to love about Liam Dunbar, how clumsy and apologetic he was, but also how his bright smile could light up a world that was otherwise dark. Even if Lana helped him stay above the surface by padding it with money, when Jules died, Liam pulled him out of that pit. He was so much more than Lana and Gwen, so much more than the one-night stands, and that was all he could think about. His heart sped up in his chest and he glanced over at the boy in his passenger seat, wondering what was going on in his mind. Theo was disheartened at his expression, one that read as exhaustion and sadness, but he was determined to make this better for him. 

So while Liam was convincing himself that Theo resented him, Theo thought about how much he loved him. Not liked, not cared for, loved. He loved Liam Dunbar, and seeing him hurt like this put a burning feeling in his stomach that he didn't like at all. 

The fast driving paid off in the end and they pulled up to the cliff, the rocks crushing beneath the tires in a familiar sound that made Liam's stomach roll over. He had been to the cliff a couple times now, all of them with Theo, but it was still nerve-wracking now more than ever. They weren't just there to hang out in the quiet for awhile, they were here because there was a problem. Liam much preferred just disappearing when something like this happened, but he was here now. Besides, last time he had been there with one of his problems was a lot less complex than this; how was he meant to handle anything now?

Theo got out of the car and headed to the back after putting it in park, but Liam hesitated. He still felt entirely too guilty and embarrassed to be there, but he knew he had to. Theo came around to the passenger side window and gave him a look that was meant to be sympathetic, but Liam couldn't really read anything at the moment. With a shaking hand, he opened the door and followed Theo out to the back.

Liam's heart was racing as he got into the bed of the truck, and Theo could tell just by the way he was breathing. "It's okay, Li," He whispered, but Liam said nothing and just swallowed harshly. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Liam asked, turning his head the slightest bit so he could see Theo. He had his head resting on the metal, his hands on his stomach. They were about a foot apart, and Liam thought that was closer than they should be, no matter how much he liked it. "There's no reason for you to be sorry."

"I wish I could have done something," Theo admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "That was awful."

"It's not your job to protect me. It's my own fault."

"Well, it's the least I could do for all you've done for me." Liam's stomach hurt at the thought that Theo really thought about him that way, like he owed him something. "And it wasn't even your fault. If Brett hadn't forced that out of you, we wouldn't be here right now."

Liam didn't know what to say about that. "It's okay. If anyone's going to be sorry, it's me."

Theo was confused, cocking his head to the side. "Why?" He asked. "I don't hate you because you're gay, Liam."

"God, why don't you hate me?" Liam breathed, staring up at the sky. It was too painful to look at Theo's serious look, and he felt himself starting to be picked apart by Theo's eyes, like he was trying to figure him out.

"I don't think I could ever hate you," Theo sighed, going back to looking at the clouds with Liam.

A silence hung in the air and it felt like something was bubbling up in Liam's chest, something he couldn't stop. He clenched his teeth and screwed his eyes shut tight, but he knew if he didn't say it now he would be screwed up forever. "God, okay, I'm sorry that I bothered you into my life when you didn't want to be, and that I kept this a secret from you when you're literally the person I could trust most in this entire school and that you had to find out in front of everyone that I'm this way. And I'm not ashamed of that, but I'm ashamed that I let myself get so close to you when everything was different than you thought, and I'm sorry that you can't return the feelings I have, and now that you know, it's gone, you know? What we have, it's changed, because nothing can go back to normal now." Liam choked on his words as he let them out without a pause, and Theo propped himself on one elbow, trying to register what he said. He felt like all the air had been knocked out of him at once, leaving him breathless and dizzy. 

"What?" He said, and he would have kicked himself for saying it if he weren't so distracted and dizzy. He was still trying to comprehend all that Liam had said, and he was praying to god that he heard it right. "You-"

Liam bit both of his lips and swallowed again, his throat feeling painfully dry. "I shouldn't have said that," He gasped once he figured out how to breathe, a red blush spreading across his cheeks. His fight-or-flight response was kicking in, and this time, it was leaning towards the latter. He went to get up, but Theo's voice stopped him.

"Liam, no-" He protested, and reached to touch Liam's wrist as he tried to push himself off his back. "Stop!"

Liam sat back down in defeat, laying on the metal with a clunk to the back of his head as he went. "Let me say something," Theo breathed, and Liam noticed the look in his eyes. He couldn't place it, but he didn't think it was bad. 

Theo took a shaky breath. "You've done so much for me, and at first, I just thought you were being a good person, and you were, but then I realized that you're not like anyone else." The air Liam was trying to take in got caught in his throat. This seemed a lot like a rejection, but with Theo, he could never really tell.

 "You're the only person who's ever given a thought about me, and that means so much to me, you don't even know. For the longest time I've talked to you, I knew I was grateful for how good you were to me, but I...It took longer to realize how you are with everything, and that changed a lot. I saw you with your friends, and how you smiled around them, and I started to notice the little things about you, like how your eyes light up when you do well on a test or how excited you get when you see Tyler," Theo knew he was rambling and he was trying to stop, but all of his words were spilling out. 

"But before that, you came and got me when Julian died, and we were right here, and I knew that..."

Theo stopped, realizing he had been looking anywhere but Liam, who was looking at him like he wasn't real. He met his eyes and noticed that his vision was blurry, his emotions welling up just like he knew they would. "...I knew that I've never felt anything for anyone like this before, and that scares the  _hell_  out of me."

Liam opened his mouth to speak but found that he couldn't. All he could do was hold his breath and nod, and he almost didn't register Theo's hand coming to rest on the back of his neck, pulling him upwards the slightest bit. Theo was still up on his elbow, but he leaned down, nervous energy radiating off of him, but luckily, Liam got the point. The smaller of the two pushed himself up on his hands and connected their lips, softly at first, pulling away to share a small gasp of surprise. Kissing a boy was different for Theo in the best way, and he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to stop doing it. 

Theo put one hand on the small of Liam's back and kissed him again, electricity feeling like it was running through his every nerve, every square inch of his body. It didn't take long before Liam was kissing him back, their lips gliding together and making what felt like fireworks between them whenever one of them moved. Liam's hands found their way into Theo's hair and he pulled him closer, completely overwhelmed, but it was Theo, so it was nothing but good. The taste, the smell, the feeling, it was all  _Theo._

When he fell back into the truck, Liam was breathing heavily and way closer to Theo than he had been five minutes ago, and he admired the shellshocked look on his face, loving that he had put it there. "How long have you-"

"Since the first time in the library, at least," Theo admitted, knowing what Liam was going to say before he even had to. "God, you're...you're something else, Liam Dunbar."

Liam smiled, forgetting all about what had happened at school as he rested his head against Theo's chest, Theo wrapping an arm around his shoulders. 


	18. Connect

The next morning, Liam woke up in his bed for the first time in awhile, since the guest room had finally been set up for Theo. It wasn't like he wanted Theo to be in his room, it was just that he missed him and he  _absolutely_  wanted Theo to be in his room, who was he kidding?

Last night had left him reeling, the remembrance of soft kisses still filling his body with euphoria and his spine tingled whenever he thought about Theo's hands on his face. His minds played over Theo's every word like a record that had been broken several times over, analyzing each one and hoping he never forgot the voice he used when he said them. Liam wouldn't ever get tired of listening to him talk like that.

Still, he was nervous to go to school as he went to shut his alarm off. He was in an odd mix of happiness and anxiety, happiness from him and Theo finally getting together, but anxiety from his current situation at school, but also something else. He wasn't sure what he and Theo were doing; they really should have defined it back at the cliff, but they were a little too caught up in each other to think. 

He pressed the off button on his alarm instead of snooze, and he groaned when he realized he actually had to get up and go to school. His movements went from sluggish to bouncy in random sequences when his thoughts focused on the good, but they quickly got dragged back down by the bad. Liam was still kicking himself about what he'd done at school, knowing that once he got there he'd be met with the scrutinizing stares of his classmates. He wondered what Hayden, Tracy, Mason, and Corey would say. Would they be mad at him for keeping secrets from them? Would they still think he was homophobic even though he had admitted he was gay? Those were all somewhat irrational thoughts, but he couldn't recognize it.

When he stepped outside of his room, Theo was halfway down the hallway to get some breakfast before they had to leave. He gave him a soft smile when he heard Liam behind him, but didn't say anything, and Liam was immediately nervous. What if Theo didn't want to be with him, after all? That was a particularly scary question, because everything he'd said before was true, including that things would never go back to normal after this. 

They ate their breakfast and ignored the questioning stares of David and Jenna, who could tell that there was some sort of tension between the two. Not wanting to make it worse, they didn't ask, but they both still had their silent looks of mutual thought. Jenna would be home all day with the baby for the next two weeks, so she had a lot of time to create her own theories. 

Liam got into Theo's truck shakily, the two still having not said a single word to each other. His fingers tapped on the inside of the door in a pattern Liam didn't know where he came up with, doing anything to distract himself from the awkwardness in the air. "I don't want to go," Liam finally broke the silence with a groan, his frustration making him briefly forget about the no-talking thing they had going. He rubbed his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I did that, in front of everybody!" Liam sighed, more exasperated than anything. 

"Not everybody saw it," Theo assured. "There were only, like, twenty people around."

"Twenty people with mouths and phones, it's definitely been spread around by now."

"Well," Theo was cautious about bringing up their talk yesterday, because to be honest, he wasn't sure what he was doing. He didn't want to screw things up with Liam now that they apparently had something going, so he approached with care. "You said you weren't ashamed."

Liam's face burned hot as they pulled into the school parking lot. "That wasn't really the main thing on my mind," He murmured, relieved that he could get out of the truck now that they were at school. Theo smirked so that Liam couldn't see, and walked by his side. He was closer to him than he normally would be, but he didn't do anything to give it away. He had a feeling Liam didn't want this thing to be public yet, so he'd abide by that if it meant he got to have him to himself.

Liam walked in through the large double doors, and he felt the familiar sense of panic that he did when he first got there. This time, though, it was different; he wasn't the new kid anymore, the one that nobody knew, he was Liam Dunbar, the newest player on the lacrosse team who was now known to everyone as gay. Huh, openly gay. As much as Liam had been upset about that, it did have a nice title accompanying it. Those thoughts were pushed to the side as a few people turned to look at him, and were diminished completely when one looked away abruptly like he was scared.

"Hey, it's alright," Theo whispered, and Liam calmed. Of course Theo was there with him, just like he was with everyone else. He gave him a smile but found that he forgot how to walk for a second until Theo pushed him along slightly, his feet moving protestingly along the tiled floors. He was planning on going straight to his locker and keeping his head down, but Theo had other plans. 

Theo saw his group of friends walking together, and they stopped when they saw Theo and Liam. Hayden gave a small wave to Liam, and Theo put one hand on Liam's back and lightly shoved him towards them. "I'll see you later, okay?" He said, and Liam nodded as he approached his friends. He didn't see where Tracy was, but he was a little distracted to ask.

"Hey, Liam," Hayden said, her smile sweet and caring. "How are you?"

"Little tired, little stressed, apparently openly gay now," Liam joked, and Mason chuckled as they went to Liam's locker. "You guys aren't mad at me?"

"Why would be mad at you?" Corey asked incredulously. "Maybe we're a little confused, but not mad." Hayden and Mason nodded in agreement, and Liam gave them a sideways smile. 

"I don't know, I thought you might think I was using it as a cop-out. And believe me, god, if my mouth hadn't gone and said that, I wouldn't have gotten into this situation."

"You know we'll accept you no matter what, right?" Hayden asked, looking sympathetic. "Mostly everyone else will, too. You'll find the ones that really matter."

"Speaking of which, where's Tracy? I haven't gotten to talk to her yet," Liam mentioned, and Hayden tensed. 

"I don't know," She lied, and though Liam could see right through it, he didn't say anything. "I haven't seen her either." Mason and Corey both shifted on their feet uncomfortably like they knew something they shouldn't, and Hayden seemed to notice and grit her teeth. She quickly changed her expression and put on a happy face. She was better at looking fine than sounding fine, Liam thought. "Well, I'll catch up with you guys later, I have to get to Language Arts. Liam, text us if anyone tries to give you shit. We can't beat them up, but we can hate them violently," Hayden called the last part as she walked down the hall to her first class, and Mason and Corey agreed. Corey patted Liam on the shoulder before he left, and Mason departed shortly after that.

\--

The rest of the day went by as normal, but even if Liam was worried about his classmates' reactions, he was oddly happy that it was off his chest now that people knew. Barely anyone asked about it, which he was grateful for, and he was able to just do his work and be done.

After lacrosse practice, which had gone better than he had expected it to, he took his shower and got dressed again, ignoring how Theo was looking at him. They were in a public locker room for god's sake, you'd think he'd be a little more discreet in checking him out as he pulled on his shirt! Liam raised one eyebrow smugly and Theo went back to pretending that he wasn't looking, being far too obvious about that part, too.

When he walked out of the locker room and started towards the parking lot, a female voice stopped him in his tracks. "Liam!" Tracy called, and he turned around. She had a wide smile on her face and opened her arms to him, pulling him in for a hug. She'd been there when it happened, and she regretted not talking to him about it sooner. Something had happened to her then and she didn't have time, but she had him now. "God, how are you?"

"That seems to be the common question," Liam laughed lightly, remembering what her girlfriend had asked him that morning. "I'm doing great, actually. This is a lot better of a response than I would have gotten at Devenford, I'm sure."

Tracy nodded, her eyes widening with excitement. She sat down on the stairs near the locker room and beckoned Liam to follow. He obeyed, knowing that Theo had to take a little longer to do something for his class, so he wouldn't be keeping him waiting or anything. "I know it's probably bad to say, but the look on Brett's face? Priceless," Tracy laughed, her hands going from pressed together in excitement to far apart on her last word. Liam chuckled. He hadn't thought much about Brett, specifically, but he was sure that it was. 

"I kind of wish I would have seen it," Liam sighed. "Probably looked like somebody kicked him, didn't he?"

"That's exactly what he looked like. Mason and Corey felt bad, but they wouldn't quit talking about Brett and how he basically crumbled when you walked away," Tracy rattled off. "He got so embarrassed, and Theo told him to fuck off, and he just went to his car and left. Oh, and Hayden--" the bubbly excited nature on her face dimmed a little when she mentioned Hayden. "She was, uh, she was talking too."

"Did something happen with Hayden?" Liam asked lightly, knowing now that there was definitely something going on. Tracy had avoided them all day when she was usually talking a lot in the group, but there was a distinct lack of her. If that wasn't a big enough sign, nobody brought her up without Hayden looking like someone kicked her puppy, so when Liam saw Tracy's equally as sad face, he knew for sure.

"Yeah," Tracy admitted, sighing. "We broke up. After Lana and Theo broke up, Lana kept talking to Hayden more and more, and Hayden wasn't even trying to stop her, and-" Tracy's voice got choked up, so she stopped entirely for a second. "It got to be too much, you know?"

"I'm sorry, Tracy," Liam breathed, offering his arms out for a hug this time. "I know you really loved her."

"I still love her," Tracy said matter-of-factly. "I'll always love her. I just don't think I'm enough for her anymore. I don't exactly give her what Lana could, all the special treatment and all that. She deserves to be treated like that, and I try to, but I can't compete."

"Tracy," Liam said seriously, pulling away so he could look in Tracy's eyes. "I'm sure Hayden hasn't even compared you to Lana in the slightest. She loves you, and you  _do_  treat her right."

Tracy just shrugged, and Liam hugged her again. "You're a good friend, Liam. Theo's lucky to have you," She said, and Liam smiled.

"Yeah, I am." The two were interrupted by Theo, who was standing at the end of the hall with his hands in his pockets. He had a soft smile on his face that made Liam's heart beat a little faster, and Tracy seemed to notice since her head was pressed against his chest. "I wasn't listening, I promise, I was just around the corner," He said, but Tracy just nodded like she didn't really care. She looked between the two of them and gave a weak but still full smile, motioning for Liam to go with him. 

When they met eyes, Liam's heart once again skipped in his chest, and Theo's did the same. Blue met green and Theo's pupils dilated, seeing someone he liked. "Ready to go?" He asked softly. Liam looked back at Tracy, who was slinging her backpack over her shoulder and nodding in reassurance that she was okay. Liam said yes and they went out to the parking lot, the nervousness back.

It had been almost a full twenty-four hours and they hadn't touched each other once, not even the slightest bit, and Liam was still a little nervous that Theo didn't want to. They drove in almost silence besides the soft humming Theo made to the music that was playing. Another thing Liam had learned about Theo was that he changed the radio stations a lot, but always stopped if there was something by Springsteen or the Rolling Stones. Right now, he was humming along to  _Born to Run_ , seeming like he had memorized it many times over. Liam watched as his lips moved along to the lyrics and blushed when Theo looked at him, looking out the window instead. God, how much he wanted to kiss him.

They got home and they went to the kitchen, just as they always did. Jenna was taking a nap in the living room, which was probably unintended, but neither of them minded and just took extra care not to drop their bags loudly. "You want a snack?" Liam asked after a few seconds of silence, the air feeling oddly like it was buzzing. Theo shook his head.

"I'm good," He said quietly, trying to keep his volume low. Liam went to get a cup out of the cabinet, which was unfortunately behind Theo, so he kept his distance and tried to reach for it anyway. Theo got the cup for him after watching Liam struggle for it, handing it to him and looking at him with amusement. He was starting to notice how Liam was looking at him and skirting around him nervously, and he smirked, grabbing the cup back from him and setting it on the counter behind him, putting his hands on Liam's hips instead. Without hesitation, he went in for the kiss, pleased when Liam gasped in surprise, but leaned into him and didn't pull away. It was the kind of kiss that made up for lost time, and Liam's fears finally, completely melted away when it happened. 

"Oh, thank god," Liam breathed when they finally broke the kiss, his arms around Theo's neck and Theo's hands still gripping his hips. The slightly taller boy cocked his head to the side in a questioning manner, and Liam's eyes shined with bashfulness. "I was starting to wonder if you didn't want to do that anymore."

Theo laughed breathlessly like that was the funniest thing Liam could have said to him, because it was. It wasn't a joke, no, but the idea of not wanting to be with Liam was ridiculous, so he let him know. "You're ridiculous," Theo said softly, resting his forehead against Liam's and coming in for another soft kiss. Liam smiled into it and sighed with contentedness.

"This is great, T," Liam laughed. "But I do kind of need your help with something. It's only fair that if we get to be this happy, somebody else gets to, too."

"You want to try and fix things with Hayden and Tracy," Theo said, finishing Liam's thought. Their arms were still wrapped around each other, making it feel like they were connected, and Liam nodded. Theo smiled. That was his Liam, his strong, compassionate, and kind Liam. "I'll help you in any way I can. I promise."

"And I want to come out to my parents," Liam said, and Theo nodded again. "They deserve to know the truth. You don't have to be a part of it if you don't want to, I don't want to do anything to make it uncomfortable for you."

"No, Li, It's fine. I guess...I've gotta do that too, considering this entire thing has seriously messed up the illusion of straightness I had going on." Liam grinned at Theo's joking nature. "So we'll do it together. That's the best way, right?"

Liam's eyes shone brightly. "Thank you, Theo," He whispered, finally detaching his arms from around his neck when he heard his mother turn over in the next room. Even if they weren't touching anymore, the two still felt like they were walking on air. 

"Come on." Theo nodded towards the door. "It's time to get your two friends back together and come out of the closet. We've got work to do."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oy, I haven't updated in so long...my bad :0


	19. Friend(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo makes amends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, after an entire month, I'm updating this. I don't know why I've been lacking so much, I'm so so sorry.

"In order for this to work, your friends have to trust me." 

Theo was laying on Liam's bed the next morning, having slept on the couch in his room. Liam would have much preferred that Theo was in his bed with him, but Theo was afraid Jenna or David would walk in to see them asleep together, so that killed that idea. Liam was debating on whether or not he should wear a red shirt or a blue one, but that wasn't really his biggest issue right now. 

"How are you planning on doing that? Red or blue?" Liam asked both questions at once, one more relevant than the other.

"I don't know yet. Blue," Theo answered quickly. "We planned for this, but I don't know to what extent it'll work."

"Hopefully it works at all," Liam grumbled. He was trying to look on the bright side of this, but it was kind of hard when his friend group was so scattered around now. Tracy used to be such a big part of the group, but she had left the groupchat and no matter how much Liam asked her to come back, she said no. 

"Don't say that," Theo sighed, rolling onto his stomach instead of his back. "If you just find out what was going on with Hayden, you can explain to Tracy that they weren't doing what she thought. On the unlikely basis that they were doing what Tracy thought...we're screwed and this won't work." 

"Wow, thanks," Liam said sarcastically, pulling off the shirt he wore to sleep and replacing it with his blue one, ignoring how Theo flushed pink and looked away like he was some kind of saint. He smirked and turned back around so Theo would know he was fine. "You're good to look now, prude," he joked, and Theo rolled his eyes with a disarming smile. "You almost ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me get my shoes on and grab a poptart." Theo started towards the door of Liam's bedroom, but stopped. "What kind? Strawberry or Blueberry?"

"Chocolate," Liam said absentmindedly, pulling on one of his own shoes. 

"Gross, you're lucky I like you," Theo said matter-of-factly, and Liam laughed as Theo dashed and got it anyway. Theo's aversion to chocolate poptarts was almost as funny as him nearly tripping over the hall rug with a small yelp. 

After the "near-death experience" as Theo was calling it while trying to get Liam his breakfast, they got into Theo's truck and started off towards the school. Liam had a better outlook on things now that he knew nothing bad would happen to him, but he was still nervous to do what he had planned all last night. He bit into his pastry to distract himself, and Theo snorted when he made a disgusted face at how dry it was. 

When they reached the school, Theo made the conscious decision that he was done with lying. Maybe he wouldn't tell the team, but he had felt so much better after Liam knew everything. If there was anyone who would benefit from knowing, it was Liam's friend group. Now that they had...whatever they had, Theo wanted to make sure he wasn't as much of an outsider in Liam's life anymore. 

First, though, he had to get everyone together, and that wouldn't happen if Tracy and Hayden were still on bad terms. "I'm going to talk to Tracy. She'll listen to me more than Hayden, and I've got firsthand experience with Lana." Liam agreed with that arrangement while he went to go find Hayden. They were taking a more separate approach to this, and Liam found Theo's logic solid enough for an already slapdash plan. 

Hayden was in the hallway alone, looking different considering Tracy was always there with her. Hayden without Tracy by her side was quiet and subdued, and it was clear she was still sad about what happened between them. He would be too, who could blame her? Exes getting in the way weren't ever good situations.

"Hey, Hayden," He said softly. "Maybe we should talk?"

\--

Over where Theo and Tracy were, things were going about as well as they could've: Tracy was about to cry at the mere mention of Hayden and Theo wanted to fucking kick himself, this was not the point of talking to her. He didn't know what to do when somebody cried, so he rose an awkward hand and patted her on the back. "Hey, I'm sorry," he apologized, thinking he had done something wrong, but she shook her head.

"No, you didn't do anything. I just wasn't expecting to hear about her," She laughed weakly. "It's been hard. I really love her, but I can't do anything about it anymore."

"Well," Theo paused. "What if you could?" Tracy looked at him with interest, and he took a deep breath. "I'm used to Lana, I know how she functions and talks with people. She does have something for Hayden, but I've seen the way she goes about showing it. Hayden's not going to run back to her anytime soon, I'm almost entirely sure."

"What do you mean?" Tracy asked, brushing a piece of hair out of her face. Talking to Theo was odd enough, but she trusted Liam wholeheartedly. She knew that he wouldn't bring someone to them that would hurt them. 

"What I mean is, I've...heard some of the things she's said about you. I heard them out in the hallway a little while back, Lana trying to get her to take her back, but Hayden only said that she loves you. She made it very clear that she doesn't have any feelings for Lana anymore, and I believe her. You know her, she's not a good liar." Tracy nodded in agreement, sniffling but with a hopeful expression on her face. "If you go to her, I'm sure she'll take you back. Hayden loves you, Tracy. There's no doubt about it."

Tracy once again nodded and got up from where they were sitting, going off to find Hayden. Theo's heart filled with a warmness that he usually only got when he was around Liam, something happy from helping someone. He wondered if the do-no-evil Liam felt this way all the time. He could get used to this. 

\--

"So? How did it go?" Liam asked in a hushed tone, having just stopped talking to Hayden. 

She had revealed that Lana wasn't saying anything along the lines of getting back together, and that she was actually apologetic. "Hayden told her to leave her alone and she cried and said she would," Liam said, almost in disbelief. The genuity of Lana's statements were the last thing on the boys' minds, though, since behind them, Tracy was slowly walking towards Hayden. 

"Maybe we should leave them alone," Theo whispered, and Liam nodded, a smile on his face. He could tell that Theo felt good about this, and that made him feel even better as well. 

\--

At lunch, everything seemed like it was back to normal. When Liam got his lunch from the salad bar and sat down at their familiar table, he was immediately met with Tracy's presence and smiled, glad that she was back. Hayden and Tracy both had those dopey grins that they usually had when they were together, and it felt like all was right with the world. Mason tossed a tater tot at his boyfriend, who caught it and popped it in his mouth, and Liam laughed. Even though the cuteness of his friends' relationships would have before irked him, just looking behind him and knowing Theo was thinking the same thing made him feel better. His heart was full.

"Can I talk to you?" A deep, familiar voice said, and Liam turned around and smiled at Theo, who looked somewhat apprehensive. His hands were fidgeting with themselves and he could barely meet their eyes, but Liam knew just from his disposition that he wasn't sad or angry. Liam nodded and went to get up, but he stopped him. "Not just you...all of you, if you'll let me."

Liam's friends looked at each other for a second with varying faces, but they all nodded and Mason motioned to a free spot on the bench. "Go ahead," He said, and Liam was glad that they had decided to give Theo a chance. 

"What's up? You don't usually sit with us," Liam said, confused. He wanted to put a hand on Theo's shoulder but he refrained, knowing that even if people suspected Theo and he were dating, they weren't going public yet. Even to his friends. Theo shrugged but knew exactly what he wanted to do, leaning forward on his elbows. 

"I just wanted to...get some things off my chest. I want to explain. Everything," Theo said, and Liam raised his eyebrows in surprise. He wasn't sure if Theo would actually tell them or if he was trying to make some excuse, but either way, this was different. "Let me start from the beginning: I don't sell drugs."

Tracy blushed a deep red and Corey laughed silently, since that was their initial thoughts of Theo. 

"Moving on, yeah, I don't sell drugs. I had that money because I was homeless. Since I was fourteen, actually. It's been four years." Theo ignored the surprised looks on everyone's faces at this admission, but he did pay attention to Liam, who reached under the table to hold his hand. He gave a small smile to Liam, but continued. "Lana was giving me money to support me and my family since I was sixteen, shortly after she and Hayden broke up. Sorry to bring it up," he apologized, but nobody seemed phased. "It was originally my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and my cousin Jules, but...things got smaller as years went by. We used to have a house, but both of my parents left without explanation when I was fourteen years old, and we ran out of money, so I lived in a scrapyard with the rest of them. My aunt died a few months later, and after that, my uncle walked out just like his brother and my mom, and I was left with Jules."

Liam gripped his hand tighter under the table supportively as he brought up his cousin. He knew that grief still wouldn't leave him. "Jules died a few weeks ago."

"I'm so sorry," Corey said, sympathy in his eyes, something that would have made Theo upset a few weeks ago, but now just gave him comfort. 

"Thanks. I'm not in the scrapyard anymore. I live at Liam's place with his parents. This is really hard for me to talk about, and I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner, but I just...I don't want to be known as the guy who no one can trust anymore."

He looked down at Liam, whose eyes were full of admiration. Liam couldn't believe that he had done all of that, much less at school of all places. He mouthed some words to him that Theo read as "I'm proud of you," and Theo smiled down at him softly. Having Liam by his side made everything easier.

"I'm really sorry that we judged you so much, Theo," Hayden sighed, and everyone could tell that she was telling the truth. While she had been one of Theo's biggest critics, she was turning over a new leaf for someone she wanted to call a friend. "You're welcome back here anytime you want, you know? If you want to, I mean."

Theo felt a new feeling wash over him in waves, like being in the ocean. It was another warm feeling at Hayden's invitation. Was this what having a friend group felt like? Some part of him was scared to consider it that, but the other was telling him to just let go. He'd spent so much time afraid that things would leave him, but after meeting Liam, things were changing. "I'd love that," He said after a few seconds, a genuine smile crossing his lips. Liam was eternally grateful that he was there to see it, to see the smile itself and Theo opening up to new things. His worlds were colliding in the best way, and he couldn't love it anymore.

After lunch, the six of them walked together to Science. Their project was due tomorrow, and Liam and Theo had since finished it, so they were about ready to turn it in. They just needed to put the finishing touches on, and they'd be done. They were about to pass by the principal's office, but were stopped.

"Liam, Mason," Principal Martin said, the woman's smile inviting, but Liam was still hesitant. The entire group froze, Theo looking at Liam with concern. Maybe the hallway incident had gotten back to her, but why would Mason be there? "Don't worry, I just need to talk to you two. Come on in," She explained, sensing Liam's nervousness. Liam nodded towards Theo to tell him to move on without him.

Mason and Liam stepped into the principal's office, which Liam had surprisingly never been in before. He usually would have been sent here at this point in the year already, but this year was different in a lot of ways. "I didn't announce this to any of the other students, but there's going to be a new girl tomorrow. Her name is Ella, and I want you two to show her around the school. Since you, Liam, are the newest, and Mason showed you around well last time, I think you'll do well with her. Maybe you could be friends."

Liam and Mason looked at each other and nodded, intrigued. Liam would be glad not to be the newest kid anymore, and he was excited to meet a potential friend. "Sounds good," Liam said, still looking at Mason, who agreed. 

"Great! You boys are the best, I'll see you two later!" Ms. Martin said, clapping her hands once in excitement. "You go ahead to class, I'll call Mrs. Alvarez to tell her why you're late."

Liam left with a good feeling in his chest from good news, and the prospect of seeing Theo again. Damn, he really had him so wrapped around his little finger that he missed him in the five minutes they were apart. Still, Liam hopped off to class quickly and happily, looking forward to seeing that pretty face again. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this almost insultingly late update, lol!  
> Comments are always appreciated!


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